Serum levels of β‐carotene, Vitamin A, and zinc in male lung cancer cases and controls

Abstract

The mean serum levels of β‐carotene and vitamin A in a multivariate analysis of data from 64 histotogically confirmed male lung cancer cases were statistically significantly lower than those from 63 randomly selected male hospital controls, who were admitted for small surgical operations (p values for both β‐carotene and vitamin A < 0.001). The mean serum levels of zinc were not statistically significantly different between cases and controls (p = 0.10). The levels of β‐carotene, vitamin A, or zinc were not statistically significantly influenced by either the extent of the cancer (p = 0.45) or the cancer cell type (p = 0.06). The possible biological significance of these findings is discussed briefly.