title: Serum vitamin D and breast density in breast cancer survivors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitamin D influences cellular proliferation and proliferation-related breast tissue characteristics, such as mammographic breast density. Little is known about vitamin D status, assessed by serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], and its relationship to breast density in breast cancer survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 426 postmenopausal breast cancer survivors from the Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle Study. Women from New Mexico, Los Angeles, and western Washington were enrolled postdiagnosis. Data for this report are from an examination conducted 24 months postenrollment. Participants completed health-related questionnaires, gave fasting blood samples, and completed height and weight measurements. Serum [25(OH)D] was assayed by radioimmunoabsorbant assay. Breast dense area and percent density were measured from postdiagnosis-digitized mammograms. Multivariate linear regression tested associations of serum [25(OH)D] with mammographic breast density measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 426 participants, 22.8% were African-American, 11.3% were Hispanic, and 62.8% were non-Hispanic white. We observed no associations of serum [25(OH)D] with either breast density or breast dense area. Among women with vitamin D deficiency (serum [25(OH)D], <16.0 ng/mL; n = 103), mean percent breast density was 8.0%, and among those with sufficient status (n = 99; serum [25(OH)D], > or = 32.0 ng/mL), mean percent density was 8.5%. Breast dense area averaged 27.2 and 26.2 cm2 for women with vitamin D deficiency and sufficiency, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data from this multiethnic cohort of breast cancer survivors do not support the hypothesis that serum vitamin D, [25(OH)D], is associated with breast density in cancer survivors.
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA. mneuhous@fhcrc.org
authors.forename: Marian L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Neuhouser
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Bruce W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Hollis
authors.forename: Liren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ambs
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McTiernan
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ballard-Barbash
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017741:Survivors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D