Clinical prevalence and effects of vitamin D deficiency in ENT cancer patients

Introduction:

Many ENT tumors can cause physical (phys.) & psychological (psych.) stress. Neither acquisition of psych. stress nor investigations of possible phys. triggers are part of standardized tumor after care (TAC). There has been scientific discussion regarding the impact of vitamin D (VD) deficiency on such phys. and psych. stress, both for gen. population & other tumor types. Our study is the first to investigate this potential connection with simultaneous consideration of previous treatment history (e.g. radiotherapy).

Methods:

We analyzed quality of life (QOL) as well as phys. & psych. symptoms of 453 patients by using standardized questionnaires (QN) (EORTC, WHO-5). Follow-up data were carried out at least 6 months later. If WHO-5 showed low mood, patients were screened for depression (MINI) & offered further help. VD status of patients was analyzed to establish correlations with treatment history as well as the results of the QN.

Results:

In the first, 7.9% of the patients exhibited a depressive state. In 75.5%, the VD level was too low but QOL as well as the “physical” & “cognitive” function scales (FS) showed no significant correlation with VD. In the second, increase or normalization of the VD level led to no changes regarding QOL & FS. Depression symptoms had decreased to 3.9% and there were 13 remissions due to psych. help, but there was no correlation with VD.

Conclusion:

This study shows no relation between the phys., psych. & cognitive suffering of ENT TAC-patients on the one hand, and their VD level on the other. For this reason, additional dosage of VD solely for improvement of the above-mentioned states of stress is not advisable. The standard evaluation of psych. aspects seems reasonable due to their high prevalence in TAC-patients.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)