Vitamin D serum levels and non-melanoma skin cancer risk.

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer is one of the common malignancies. There is sufficient evidence that sunlight (ultraviolet radiation) contributes to the development of skin cancer, but there is also evidence that relates adequate serum levels of vitamin D produced on the skin by the action of ultraviolet radiation with the decreased risk of various types of cancers, including skin cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of vitamin D serum levels among patients with non-melanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) and controls. METHODS: A prospective observational case-control study was conducted in a sample of 84 subjects in Extremadura (Spain). Forty-one patients with histologically diagnosed basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas and 43 healthy controls were randomly chosen to assess whether vitamin D (25(OH)D3) serum level, age and sex were related to non-melanoma skin cancer and to determine the possible risk of this type of skin cancer for these variables. RESULTS: When analysing serum vitamin D levels, we ensured that all our subjects, both cases and controls, had normal or low serum vitamin D levels, even though the samples were taken during months with the highest solar irradiance in our region. It is striking in our results that there was a higher percentage of subjects with deficits of vitamin D who did not have skin cancer (66%) than patients with deficits with these types of skin cancers (34%). When adjusting the model for age and sex, vitamin D values above 18 ng/ml increased the risk of suffering from non-melanoma skin cancer by nearly 7-fold (aOR: 6.94, 95% CI [1.55-31.11], p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the controversial data obtained in the literature, our results suggest that lower levels of vitamin D may be related to a reduced incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer.

Estudio prospectivo de las punciones lumbares realizadas en el Servicio de Emergencia del Hospital de Niños J.M. de los Ríos, durante el período diciembre 85- febrero 86 / Prospective study of the lumbar punctures performed at Servicio de Emergencia del Hospital de Niños J.M. de los Ríos during december 85-february 86

Se presenta un trabajo donde se examinan los resultados de 287 P.L., realizadas en pacientes del Servicio de Emergencia del Hospital de Niños en un trimestre, encontrándose que la técnica es practicada con mucho mayor frecuencia en pacientes menores de un año, siendo la fiebre la causa más común de indicación y cuando ésta se asocia a vómitos y signos meníngeos, existe alta posibilidad de meningitis. Así mismo se demuestra que existen fallas importantes en cuanto a la técnica e indicaciones, por lo cual se realiza una revisión actualizada de la literatura