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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had collateral effects on many health systems. Cancer screening and diagnostic tests were postponed, resulting in delays in diagnosis and treatment. This study assessed the impact of the pandemic on screening, diagnostics and incidence of breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer; and whether rates returned to pre-pandemic levels by December, 2021., Methods: This is a cohort study of electronic health records from the United Kingdom (UK) primary care Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD database. The study included individuals registered with CPRD GOLD between January, 2017 and December, 2021, with at least 365 days of clinical history. The study focused on screening, diagnostic tests, referrals and diagnoses of first-ever breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer. Incidence rates (IR) were stratified by age, sex, and region, and incidence rate ratios (IRR) were calculated to compare rates during and after lockdown with rates before lockdown. Forecasted rates were estimated using negative binomial regression models., Results: Among 5,191,650 eligible participants, the first lockdown resulted in reduced screening and diagnostic tests for all cancers, which remained dramatically reduced across the whole observation period for almost all tests investigated. There were significant IRR reductions in breast (0.69 [95% CI: 0.63-0.74]), colorectal (0.74 [95% CI: 0.67-0.81]), and prostate (0.71 [95% CI: 0.66-0.78]) cancer diagnoses. IRR reductions for lung cancer were non-significant (0.92 [95% CI: 0.84-1.01]). Extrapolating to the entire UK population, an estimated 18,000 breast, 13,000 colorectal, 10,000 lung, and 21,000 prostate cancer diagnoses were missed from March, 2020 to December, 2021., Discussion: The UK COVID-19 lockdown had a substantial impact on cancer screening, diagnostic tests, referrals, and diagnoses. Incidence rates remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels for breast and prostate cancers and associated tests by December, 2021. Delays in diagnosis are likely to have adverse consequences on cancer stage, treatment initiation, mortality rates, and years of life lost. Urgent strategies are needed to identify undiagnosed cases and address the long-term implications of delayed diagnoses., Competing Interests: Author DP-A has performed paid consultancy services for the following commercial entities: European Medicines Agency; the Innovative Medicines Initiative; Amgen, Chiesi, and UCB Biopharma; and consultancy or speaker fees from Astellas, Amgen, and UCB Biopharma. Author NB has received paid consultancy fees for Theramex and Lindus Health; and provides research consultancy services for Sleep Universal Limited. All of these activities were independent from the research reported here. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Barclay, Pineda Moncusí, Jödicke, Prieto-Alhambra, Raventós, Newby, Delmestri, Man, Chen and Català.)

Intersectional social determinants including ethnicity are vital in health research. We curated a population-wide data resource of self-identified ethnicity data from over 60 million individuals in England primary care, linking it to hospital records. We assessed ethnicity data in terms of completeness, consistency, and granularity and found one in ten individuals do not have ethnicity information recorded in primary care. By linking to hospital records, ethnicity data were completed for 94% of individuals. By reconciling SNOMED-CT concepts and census-level categories into a consistent hierarchy, we organised more than 250 ethnicity sub-groups including and beyond "White", "Black", "Asian", "Mixed" and "Other, and found them to be distributed in proportions similar to the general population. This large observational dataset presents an algorithmic hierarchy to represent self-identified ethnicity data collected across heterogeneous healthcare settings. Accurate and easily accessible ethnicity data can lead to a better understanding of population diversity, which is important to address disparities and influence policy recommendations that can translate into better, fairer health for all., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To explore clustering of comorbidities among patients with a new diagnosis of OA and estimate the 10-year mortality risk for each identified cluster., Methods: This is a population-based cohort study of individuals with first incident diagnosis of OA of the hip, knee, ankle/foot, wrist/hand or 'unspecified' site between 2006 and 2020, using SIDIAP (a primary care database representative of Catalonia, Spain). At the time of OA diagnosis, conditions associated with OA in the literature that were found in ≥1% of the individuals (n = 35) were fitted into two cluster algorithms, k-means and latent class analysis. Models were assessed using a range of internal and external evaluation procedures. Mortality risk of the obtained clusters was assessed by survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards., Results: We identified 633 330 patients with a diagnosis of OA. Our proposed best solution used latent class analysis to identify four clusters: 'low-morbidity' (relatively low number of comorbidities), 'back/neck pain plus mental health', 'metabolic syndrome' and 'multimorbidity' (higher prevalence of all studied comorbidities). Compared with the 'low-morbidity' cluster, the 'multimorbidity' cluster had the highest risk of 10-year mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 2.19 [95% CI: 2.15, 2.23]), followed by the 'metabolic syndrome' cluster (adjusted HR: 1.24 [95% CI: 1.22, 1.27]) and the 'back/neck pain plus mental health' cluster (adjusted HR: 1.12 [95% CI: 1.09, 1.15])., Conclusion: Patients with a new diagnosis of OA can be clustered into groups based on their comorbidity profile, with significant differences in 10-year mortality risk. Further research is required to understand the interplay between OA and particular comorbidity groups, and the clinical significance of such results., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.)

The objective of this work was to estimate the incidence rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events (myocardial infarction, stroke, or CVD death) at 1 year among three cohorts of patients at high risk of fracture (osteoporosis, previous fracture, and anti-osteoporosis medication) and to identify the key risk factors of CVD events in these three cohorts. To do so, this prospective cohort study used data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a primary care database from United Kingdom. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, a composite outcome for the occurrence of either myocardial infarction [MI], stroke, or CVD death) were identified in patients aged 50 years or older at high or imminent fracture risk identified in three different cohorts (not mutually exclusive): recently diagnosed with osteoporosis (OST, n = 65,295), incident fragility fracture (IFX, n = 67,065), and starting oral bisphosphonates (OBP, n = 145,959). About 1.90%, 4.39%, and 2.38% of the participants in OST, IFX, and OBP cohorts, respectively, experienced MACE events. IFX was the cohort with the higher risk: MACE incidence rates (cases/1000 person-years) were 19.63 (18.54-20.73) in OST, 52.64 (50.7-54.5) in IFX, and 26.26 (25.41-27.12) in OBP cohorts. Risk of MACE events at 1 year was predicted in the three cohorts. Models using a set of general, CVD, and fracture candidates selected by lasso regression had a good discrimination (≥70%) and internal validity and generally outperformed the models using only the CVD risk factors of general population listed in QRISK tool. Main risk factors common in all MACE models were sex, age, smoking, alcohol, atrial fibrillation, antihypertensive medication, prior MI/stroke, established CVD, glomerular filtration rate, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and number of concomitant medicines. Identified key risk factors highlight the differences of patients at high risk of fracture versus general population. Proposed models could improve prediction of CVD events in patients with osteoporosis in primary care settings. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).)

The availability of anti-osteoporosis medications with rapid onset and high potency requires tools to identify patients at high imminent fracture risk (IFR). There are few tools that predict a patient's IFR. We aimed to develop and validate tools for patients with a recent fracture and for patients initiating oral bisphosphonate therapy. Models for two separate cohorts, those with incident fragility fracture (IFx) and with incident oral bisphosphonate prescription (OBP), were developed in primary care records from Spain (SIDIAP database), UK (Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD), and Denmark (Danish Health Registries). Separate models were developed for hip, major, and any fracture outcomes. Only variables present in all databases were included in Lasso regression models for the development and logistic regression models for external validation. Discrimination was tested using area under curve (AUC) and calibration was assessed using observed versus predicted risk plots stratified by age, sex, and previous fracture history. The development analyses included 35,526 individuals in the IFx and 41,401 in the OBP cohorts, with 671,094 in IFx and 330,256 in OBP for the validation analyses. Both the IFx and OBP models demonstrated similarly good performance for hip fracture at 1 year (with AUCs of 0.79 [95% CI 0.75 to 0.82] and 0.87 [0.83 to 0.91] in Spain, 0.71 [0.71 to 0.72] and 0.73 [0.72 to 0.74] in the UK, and 0.70 [0.70 to 0.70] and 0.69 [0.68 to 0.70] in Denmark), and lower discrimination for major osteoporotic and any fracture sites. Calibration was good across all three countries. Discrimination and calibration for the 2-year models was similar. The proposed IFR prediction models could be used to identify more precisely patients at high imminent risk of fracture and inform anti-osteoporosis treatment selection. The freely available model parameters permit local validation and implementation. © 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)., (© 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).)

Context: COVID-19 is a major health problem because of saturation of intensive care units (ICU) and mortality. Vitamin D has emerged as a potential treatment able to reduce the disease severity., Objective: This work aims to elucidate the effect of 25(OH)D3 (calcifediol) treatment on COVID-19-related outcomes., Methods: This observational cohort study was conducted from March to May 2020, among patients admitted to COVID-19 wards of Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. A total of 930 patients with COVID-19 were included; 92 were excluded because of previous calcifediol intake. Of the remaining 838, a total of 447 received calcifediol (532 μg on day 1 plus 266 μg on days 3, 7, 15, and 30), whereas 391 were not treated at the time of hospital admission (intention-to-treat). Of the latter, 53 patients were treated later during ICU admission and were allocated in the treated group in a second analysis. In healthy individuals, calcifediol is about 3.2-fold more potent on a weight basis than cholecalciferol. Main outcome measures were ICU admission and mortality., Results: ICU assistance was required by 102 (12.2%) participants. Out of 447 patients treated with calcifediol at admission, 20 (4.5%) required the ICU, compared to 82 (21%) out of 391 nontreated (P < .001). Logistic regression of calcifediol treatment on ICU admission, adjusted by age, sex, linearized 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at baseline, and comorbidities showed that treated patients had a reduced risk of requiring the ICU (odds ratio [OR] 0.13; 95% CI 0.07-0.23). Overall mortality was 10%. In the intention-to-treat analysis, 21 (4.7%) out of 447 patients treated with calcifediol at admission died compared to 62 patients (15.9%) out of 391 nontreated (P = .001). Adjusted results showed a reduced mortality risk with an OR of 0.21 (95% CI, 0.10-0.43). In the second analysis, the obtained OR was 0.52 (95% CI, 0.27-0.99)., Conclusion: In patients hospitalized with COVID-19, calcifediol treatment significantly reduced ICU admission and mortality., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The DKK1 gene encodes an extracellular inhibitor of the Wnt pathway with an important role in bone tissue development, bone homeostasis, and different critical aspects of bone biology. Several BMD genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have consistently found association with SNPs in the DKK1 genomic region. For these reasons, it is important to assess the functionality of coding and regulatory variants in the gene. Here, we have studied the functionality of putative regulatory variants, previously found associated with BMD in different studies by others and ourselves, and also six missense variants present in the general population. Using a Wnt-pathway-specific luciferase reporter assay, we have determined that the variants p.Ala41Thr, p.Tyr74Phe, p.Arg120Leu, and p.Ser157Ile display a reduced DKK1 inhibitory capacity as compared with WT. This result agrees with the high-bone-mass (HBM) phenotype of two women from our cohort who carried mutations p.Tyr74Phe or p.Arg120Leu. On the other hand, by means of a circularized chromosome conformation capture- (4C-) sequencing experiment, we have detected that the region containing 24 BMD-GWA variants, located 350-kb downstream of DKK1 , interacts both with DKK1 and the LNCAROD (LncRNA-activating regulator of DKK1, AKA LINC0148 ) in osteoblastic cells. In conclusion, we have shown that some rare coding variants are partial loss-of-function mutations that may lead to a HBM phenotype, whereas the common SNPs associated with BMD in GWASs belong to a putative long-range regulatory region, through a yet unknown mechanism involving LNCAROD . © 2020 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research., (© 2020 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.)

Introduction: Monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS) is highly prevalent in older adults and affects bone structure, with osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures in up to 14% of affected patients. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), the standard technique for diagnosing osteoporosis, is ineffective to reveal microstructure and bone quality in this disease., Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with MGUS, recruited consecutively from the Hematology and Internal Medicine Departments of Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, between January 2011 and January 2018. Medical records, clinical results and spinal X-ray images were collected. Bone mineral density (BMD) at hip and spine was measured by DXA and Bone Material Strength index (BMSi) by impact microindentation on the tibial mid-shaft., Results: Thirty-nine patients with MGUS and 65 age-matched controls without previous fractures were included. In the MGUS group, 11 (28.2%) patients had prevalent fractures, nearly half of them vertebral (n = 5, 45.45%). Compared to controls, MGUS patients had significantly lower BMSi, a mean (SD) of 70.72 (9.70) vs. 78.29 (8.70), p = 0.001, and lower spinal BMD values (0.900 [0.159] vs. 1.003 [0.168], respectively, p = 0.012), but no significant differences at femoral neck and total hip. No association was observed between BMSi and DXA. Bone remodeling markers (procollagen type-1 N propeptide, bone-alkaline phosphatase and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen) did not differ between the two groups., Conclusions: Spinal BMD and mechanical properties of bone tissue, as measured by impact microindentation, were impaired in patients with MGUS. These changes in bone tissue mechanical resistance were independent of DXA levels.

Background: Tamoxifen (TAM) and aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapies have been associated with increased risk of thromboembolic and cardiovascular events, respectively, in addition to other side effects. This study analysed the risk of these events and the overall survival (OS) benefit in breast cancer patients treated with AI, compared with TAM-treated patients, in a large population-based cohort., Methods: This observational cohort study included women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with TAM or AI. Data were extracted from primary care records in a population database (SIDIAP, System for the Development of Research in Primary Care). Incidence rates of study outcomes are reported. Survival analyses included Kaplan-Meier estimation and Cox proportional hazards models. Sensitivity analysis was carried out, using Fine and Gray models to account for competing risk of death. Confounding was minimized using propensity score adjustment and inverse probability weighting (IPW) adjustment., Results: Data from 3082 postmenopausal women treated with TAM, and 18,455 treated with AI, were available. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence interval (CI)] for AI users, compared with TAM group, were 0.93 (95%CI 0.69-1.26) for thromboembolic events (TEEs); 1.13 (95%CI 0.79-1.63) for cardiovascular events, and 0.76 (95%CI 0.70-0.82) for mortality. Additional analyses using competing risk analysis had similar results, while IPW adjustment showed a potential risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) [2.26 (95%CI 1.02-4.97)] in AI-treated patients., Conclusions: AI users had >20% lower all-cause mortality compared with TAM users, without increasing risk to experience cardiovascular and TEEs. This would locate AI therapy on the first line in clinical practice. Thus, AI might be the most preferable option in adjuvant hormonal therapy choice., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement: ADP reports grants from Amgen, personal fees from UCB, Mereo, Sandoz, Gilead, and other from Active Life Sci, outside the submitted work. DPA reports unrestricted research funding from UCB, Amgen, and Servier Laboratoires outside of the submitted work; DPA’s department has received fees for speaker services from Amgen outside of the submitted work. MPM, NGG, IT, SS, JA and XN have nothing to disclose., (© The Author(s), 2020.)

Aromatase inhibitors have been associated with accelerated bone loss and an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures. Currently, bisphosphonates are recommended to reduce fracture risk in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the fracture risk in breast cancer patients receiving aromatase inhibitors, compared to tamoxifen users, and to assess the effectiveness of oral bisphosphonates in reducing fracture risk. We performed an observational cohort study up to 10 years of follow-up. Data were extracted from primary care records in a population database. Women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2006 and 2015 and treated with tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors (n = 36,472) were stratified according to low (without osteoporosis diagnosis nor bisphosphonates exposure) or high (with osteoporosis and/or treated with bisphosphonates) fracture risk. Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR [95% CI]) of fracture from the propensity score-matched patients. Sensitivity analyses account for competing risk of death were performed (subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR] [95% CI]). In postmenopausal women, fracture risk in aromatase inhibitor users showed an HR 1.40 [95% CI,1.05 to 1.87] and SHR 1.48 [95% CI, 1.11 to 1.98], compared to tamoxifen. Observing aromatase inhibitors patients at high risk of fracture, bisphosphonate-treated patients had an HR 0.73 [95% CI, 0.51 to 1.04] and SHR 0.69 [95% CI, 0.48 to 0.98] compared to nontreated. In conclusion, fracture risk in postmenopausal women during aromatase inhibitor treatment, in real-life conditions, was >40% compared to tamoxifen, corroborating previous randomized controlled trials results. In high-risk patients, bisphosphonate users had lower significant fracture incidence during aromatase inhibitor therapy than nonbisphosphonate users. Monitoring fracture risk and related risk factors in aromatase inhibitor patients is advisable. © 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research., (© 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.)

Purpose: The most frequent adverse effects of aromatase inhibitors (AI) are arthralgia and bone loss induction. These reduce the quality of life of patients and their adherence to the treatment. This study evaluates the early AI cessation caused by AI intolerance, and the evolution of joint pain and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during AI treatment until 1-year after AI completion., Methods: Data of 910 women diagnosed with early breast cancer and candidates for AI were recruited in B-ABLE cohort. AI discontinuation was analyzed by survival analysis, including Kaplan-Meier estimation and Cox regression. Patients were distributed in three groups of the study according to previous tamoxifen (TAM) exposure and length of AI treatment: TAM-2yAI, TAM-3yAI, and 5yAI. Evolution of joint pain and HRQoL in osteoporosis was evaluated using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and ECOS-16 tests, respectively, from baseline to 1-year after AI completion through repeated-measures ANOVA., Results: Risk of AI discontinuation was increased in patients previously exposed to tamoxifen compared to non-exposed (adjusted HR 5.30 [95% CI 2.23 to 12.57]). VAS and ECOS-16 scores of TAM-2yAI and TAM-3yAI groups increased during AI treatment, mainly during the first 3-12 months. After 1-year from AI completion, values tend to decrease to baseline levels. In 5yAI group, VAS and ECOS-16 levels increased at three months, and VAS remained significantly higher at 1-year post-treatment., Conclusions: AI therapy increased joint pain and reduced HRQoL, mainly during the first year of treatment. Patients previously treated with tamoxifen experienced greater pain when they switched to AI therapy and had an excess risk of discontinuation during the first 12 months., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03811509. Registered 28 January 2018-Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03811509 .

Background: The mechanisms behind ART-induced bone changes in HIV-infected patients are poorly known. We aimed to analyse changes in inflammatory and bone markers in HIV after tenofovir disoproxil fumarate initiation, and the associations with changes in the bone strength parameters., Methods: HIV-positive participants starting tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-based ART underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (QDR 4500 SL®, Hologic, Waltham, MA, USA) for bone mineral density (BMD), a microindentation test (OsteoProbe®, Active Life Scientific, Santa Barbara, CA, USA) for bone quality [bone material strength index (BMSi)] and phlebotomy at baseline and 48 weeks after ART. A panel of inflammatory biomarkers and bone turnover markers were measured by ELISA. HIV-negative controls underwent identical procedures once. Values are expressed as medians and IQRs, and non-parametric tests were used to perform the analysis., Results: Twenty HIV-infected individuals and 20 HIV-negative control individuals were matched in terms of age and gender. HIV individuals showed higher levels of inflammatory markers. We found no differences in bone turnover markers. HIV-positive individuals presented lower BMSi values at baseline compared with controls [86 (83-90) versus 89 (88-93), respectively; P = 0.034]. We found no difference in BMD (at either of the sites evaluated). BMSi tended to increase with treatment. IL-1β at baseline was positively correlated with changes in BMSi after ART (rho = 0.564, P = 0.014). Baseline levels of sclerostin tended to be negatively correlated with changes in BMSi (rho = -0.402, P = 0.097). We found a negative correlation between time since HIV diagnosis and changes in BMSi (rho = -0.466, P = 0.04)., Conclusions: We observed a correlation between changes in bone quality and the inflammatory environment in HIV-positive individuals. Moreover, among the underlying mechanisms we highlight the Wnt pathway as having a potentially significant role in ART bone quality recovery., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Introduction: Breast cancer patients treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) experience increased bone loss during their treatment. However, there is little information about bone mineral density (BMD) after completing AI-treatment. The present study aimed to assess BMD changes one year after AI-therapy completion., Methods: Data were collected from 864 postmenopausal women treated with AI during 5 years (5y-AI group), or during 2-3 years after taking tamoxifen therapy (pTAM-AI group). Participants with osteoporosis were treated with oral bisphosphonates (BP). BMD changes in lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN) and total hip (TH) between baseline, end of treatment, and at one year post-treatment were assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA., Results: At the end of AI-treatment, 382 patients had available BMD values and 316 also had post-treatment BMD values. As expected, BMD levels were decreased at AI-completion in non-BP treated patients. After one year, LS BMD increased in both groups (5y-AI: +2.11% [95%CI: 1.55 to 2.68], p < 0.001; pTAM-AI: +1.00% [95%CI: 0.49 to 1.51], p < 0.001) compared with the end of AI-therapy, while values at FN and TH remained stable. On the other hand, BMD values of BP-treated patients were increased or maintained at the end of AI-treatment and also at post-treatment., Conclusions: At one year after AI-completion, FN and TH BMD remained reduced in non-BP treated women, while LS BMD was recovered in the 5y-AI group and partially recovered in the pTAM-AI group. BP treatment increased or maintained BMD values at the end of therapy and at one year post-treatment., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To evaluate the vitamin D status of postmenopausal women with early estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer and to compare it with that of healthy postmenopausal women from the same Mediterranean region., Study Design and Outcome Measures: Data from 691 breast cancer (BC) patients in the B-ABLE cohort were analyzed after recent cancer intervention (recent-BC) or after a minimum of two years since this intervention (long-term-BC). Patients were also stratified by previous chemotherapy exposure (ChT+ and ChT-). Plasma levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] (25(OH)D) were compared with data from 294 healthy women (non-BC) by linear regression to estimate β-coefficients using non-BC participants as the reference group. Age, body mass index and season of blood extraction were selected as potential confounders., Results: Of the recent-BC patients, 23.7% had 25(OH)D deficiency, compared with 17.7% of the long-term-BC group, and just 1.4% of the non-BC participants. Most of the women were located in the insufficient 25(OH)D category regardless of study group. BC patients had significantly lower 25(OH)D levels than non-BC participants (adjusted β-coefficients: -4.84 [95%CI -6.56 to -3.12] in recent-BC, and -2.05 [95%CI -4.96 to -0.14] in long-term-BC). Among BC patients, the lowest 25(OH)D levels were found in the recent-BC (ChT+) group (p < 0.001). No differences were found between the long-term-BC (ChT-), long-term-BC (ChT+) and recent-BC (ChT-) groups. Among the BC ChT+ patients, the recent-BC group had significantly lower 25(OH)D levels than the long-term-BC group (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Severely reduced 25(OH)D levels were detected in patients with breast cancer, particularly after recent chemotherapy. These 25(OH)D levels had partially recovered over the long term, but still remained much lower than in the healthy population., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)