Optimal vitamin D status at admission appears to improve survival after craniotomy in patients with brain malignancies.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Survival from diagnosis of brain malignancies is often very short. Craniotomy in turn may be associated with morbidity and even post-operative mortality. Vitamin D and calcium were known as protective factors on all-cause mortality. However, their role is not well-understood in post-surgery survival of brain malignant patients.

METHODS

Totally, 56 patients completed the present quasi-experimental study, comprising the intervention group (n = 19) under intramuscular administration of 300 000 IU vitamin D3, the control group (n = 21), and the group of patients with optimal vitamin D status at admission (n = 16).

RESULTS

The mean ± SD of preoperative 25(OH)D levels in the control, intervention, and optimal vitamin D status groups were 15.15 ± 3.63 ng/mL, 16.61 ± 2.56 ng/mL, and 40.03 ± 10.56 ng/mL, respectively (P < 0.001). Crude survival was significantly greater in the optimal vitamin D status group than those in another two groups (P = 0.005). Also, Cox proportional hazard model showed that the risk of mortality was higher in the control group and the intervention group than in the group of patients with optimal vitamin D status at admission (P-trend = 0.03). However, this correlation weakened in the full-adjusted models. Preoperative total calcium had an inverse significant correlation with mortality risk [HR value 0.25, (95%, CI: 0.09-0.66), P = 0.005], and age had a positive correlation [HR value 1.07, (95%, CI: 1.02-1.11), P = 0.001].

CONCLUSION

Total calcium and age were predictive factors in six-month mortality and optimal vitamin D status appears to improve the survival in these patients, which should be examined more closely in future studies.

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