title: Vitamin D insufficiency among children with cancer in India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitamin D plays an important role in regulating various homeostatic mechanisms and has yet untapped potential in cancer prevention and prognosis. Only a few studies have been done worldwide in relating the Vitamin D levels in pediatric cancer patients to the general population but none so far in an Indian setting to the best of our knowledge.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the Vitamin D levels in a group of children with cancer to that of the general pediatric population and to note differences in the prevalence of Vitamin D insufficiency and make inferences arising from demographic and therapeutic variations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Vitamin D levels were found by immuno-chemilumino-metric assay in 102 children (51 cases and 51 controls) over a 6 months period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In comparing the Vitamin D levels of children with cancer and controls from a healthy population we found an increased incidence of Vitamin D insufficiency in cancer children (80.39%) when compared to controls (50.98%) and a much lower mean Vitamin D value in cancer children (22.8 ng/ml) when compared to controls (33 ng/dl). It was also found that cancer children above 6 years had a greater chance for developing Vitamin D insufficiency (P = 0.038) as did children suffering from hematological malignancies (P = 0.025).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed an increased prevalence of Vitamin D insufficiency in children with cancer and hence we suggest routine measurement of Vitamin D levels in children with cancer and subsequent supplementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Gem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Julius Xavier
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Aruna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rajendran
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Venkatraman
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paramasivam
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hemato Oncology, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Manipriya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ravindran
keywords: Childhood cancer; India; Vitamin D