A multicenter case control study of association of vitamin D with breast cancer among women in Karachi, Pakistan
Authors: Shaista Khan
Mohammad Hanif
Amir Maqbool
Romaina Iqbal
Iqbal Azam
Aysha Habib Khan
David Callen
Uzma Shamsi
Tiffany Gill
Journal: PloS one (2020)
Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Keywords: vitamin D; breast cancer; Karachi, Pakistan; serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D; supplementation
Affiliations: School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia., Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan., Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan., Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan., Department of Oncology, Karachi Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Medicine Hospital (KIRAN), Karachi, Pakistan.

Abstract:  Background: The prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy and breast cancer are both high among women living in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A matched case control study was conducted in two hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan to evaluate the association of vitamin D (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) concentrations, vitamin D supplementation and sun exposure with breast cancer among Pakistani women. A total of 411 newly diagnosed histologically confirmed primary breast cancer cases were enrolled and 784 controls, free of breast and any other cancers, were matched by age (year of birth ¬± 5 years), residence in the same geographic area and study site. Information was collected on sociodemographic history, history of vitamin D supplementation, past medical and obstetrical history, family history of breast cancer, sun exposure history, histopathology reports and anthropometric measurement and venous blood was collected to measure serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration. Results: Compared to patients with sufficient serum vitamin D (&gt;30 ng/ml), women with serum vitamin D deficiency (&lt;20ng/ml), had a higher risk of breast cancer (OR = 1.65, 95%CI: 1.10, 2.50). Women with history of vitamin D supplementation one year prior to enrollment, had significant protective effect against breast cancer (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.43). Conclusions and recommendation: Serum vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased risk of breast cancer, while vitamin D supplementation was associated with decreased risk of breast cancer. In Pakistani women, where vitamin D deficiency is common, raising and maintaining serum vitamin D at population level is a safe and affordable strategy. It may play a role in reducing the incidence of both vitamin D deficiency and breast cancer, particularly among poor women where the breast cancer mortality is highest due to limited resources for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment. The effects of vitamin D with regard to breast cancer risk in Karachi Pakistan should be further evaluated. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Retracted [June 2013] . Obviously old news, almost pre-dating PubPeer and not previously flagged here. H t [RetractionWatch] . ----------------------------------------- This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Due to highly unethical practices, which include serial self plagiarism, data manipulation and falsification of results found across multiple papers in Acta Biomaterialia. One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original and has not appeared in a publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process. ,