Background: Vitamin D deficiency is related to increased cancer risk and deaths. However, whether vitamin D supplementation reduces cancer mortality remains unclear, and several randomized controlled trials yield inconsistent results.
Methods: Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from their inception until 28 June 2022, for randomized controlled trials investigating vitamin D supplementation. Pooled relative risks (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Trials with vitamin D supplementation combined with calcium supplementation versus placebo alone and recruiting participants with cancer at baseline were excluded in the present study.
Results: This study included 12 trials with a total of 72,669 participants. Vitamin D supplementation did not reduce overall cancer mortality (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.80-1.16). However, vitamin D supplementation was associated with a reduction in lung cancer mortality (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.45-0.90).
Conclusions: Vitamin D supplementation could not reduce cancer mortality in this highly purified meta-analysis. Further RCTs that evaluate the association between vitamin D supplementation and total cancer mortality are still needed.
Keywords: Vitamin D supplementation; cancer incidence; cancer mortality; meta-analysis.