BACKGROUND: Observational studies have suggested an inverse association between vitamin D status and cancer. We investigated the prospective associations between vitamin D status and the total and specific type of cancer in three cohorts from the general Danish population.

METHODS: A total of 12,204 individuals 18 to 71 years old were included. The level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured at baseline, and information about cancer was obtained from the Danish Cancer Registry.

RESULTS: During the 11.3-year median follow-up time, there were 1,248 incident cancers. HRs [95% confidence intervals (CI)] per 10 nmol/L higher baseline vitamin D level were: for all cancers (HR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.99-1.04), all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, NMSC (HR = 1.00; 95% CI, 0.97-1.03), head and neck cancer (HR = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.84-1.12), colorectal cancer (HR = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.88-1.02), cancer of bronchus and lung (HR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91-1.05), breast cancer (HR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.96-1.09), cancer of the uterus (HR = 1.10; 95% CI, 0.95-1.27), prostate cancer (HR = 1.00; 95% CI, 0.93-1.08), cancer of the urinary organs (HR = 1.01; 95% CI, 0.90-1.14), NMSC (HR = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02-1.10), and malignant melanoma (HR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.95-1.17).

CONCLUSIONS: Apart from a significantly higher risk for NMSC with higher vitamin D status, we found no statistically significant associations between vitamin D status and total or specific cancers.

IMPACT: Our results do not indicate that there is an impact of vitamin D on total cancer incidence.