Skin cancer is a common type of cancer. There is substantial proof that sun’s rays (ultraviolet radiation) makes a significant contribution to the development of skin cancer, but there is also evidence to link sufficient serum levels of vitamin D produced on the skin by ultraviolet radiation action with a lower risk of various types of cancer, including skin cancer.

The purpose of this study was to look into the relationship between vitamin D serum levels and non-melanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) and controls.

Methods

A prospective observational case-control study with 84 subjects was carried out in Extremadura (Spain).

41 patients with histologically diagnosed basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas and 43 healthy controls were chosen at random to determine whether vitamin D (25(OH)D3) serum level, age, and sex were related to non-melanoma skin cancer and the potential risk of this type of skin cancer for these variables.

Results

When serum vitamin D levels were examined, they discovered that all of our subjects, both cases and controls, had normal or low serum vitamin D levels, despite the fact that the samples were collected during the months with the highest solar irradiance in the region.

It is noteworthy that the findings revealed that there was a higher percentage of subjects with vitamin D deficiencies who did not have skin cancer (66 percent) than patients with deficiencies who had these types of skin cancers (34 percent).

When the model was adjusted for age and gender, vitamin D levels above 18 ng/ml increased the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer by nearly 7-fold (aOR: 6.94, 95 percent CI [1.55–31.11], p = 0.01).

Conclusions

Despite the contradictory data from the literature, their findings suggest that lower levels of vitamin D may be associated with a lower incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer.

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