Wong, from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, noted that 32,022 received treatment and 12,608 were managed by 'watchful waiting' to see if treatment became necessary.

During 12 years of follow-up, the mortality rates in the treatment and observation groups were 24 percent and 37 percent, respectively, Wong and colleagues report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Treatment was associated with significantly higher rates of survival at 5 years and 10 years, the report indicates.

After adjustment for other factors, such as tumor characteristics and other illnesses, treatment reduced the risk of dying by 31 percent, the findings show.

"Our data show that there may be a survival advantage in treating these patients," but the findings should be verified in a randomized trial, Wong said. Two such trials are currently underway and the results could be available as early as 2009, she added.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, December 13, 2006.

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Low vitamin D linked to cancer risk in black men

Last Updated: 2006-12-12 15:30:44 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vitamin D deficiency is often found in black men, and it may be "an important and easily modifiable" contributor to their higher risk of cancer when compared with whites, Boston-based clinicians report.

Dr. Edward Giovannucci, from the Channing Laboratory and the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues examined whether cancer occurrence rates and deaths from cancer differed between black and white men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

From 1986 and 2002, a total of 99 out of 481 black men and 7019 out of 43,468 white men were diagnosed with cancer.

In analyses adjusted for multiple dietary, lifestyle, and medical risk factors for cancer, black men had a 32 percent higher risk than white men of developing any cancer and an 89 percent greater likelihood of dying from cancer, particularly from cancer of the digestive system cancer.

"We identified only vitamin D deficiency as a potentially relevant factor" in the higher cancer risk among blacks, note the researchers in the medical journal Cancer Epidemiology -- Biomarkers and Prevention.

"Our results ... are noteworthy, and further study of this topic should be a high priority," Giovannucci and colleagues conclude.

SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology -- Biomarkers and Prevention, December 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.