Table of contents
- Low plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling Japanese people aged between 40 and 74 years: The Murakami cohort study
- Intervention of Vitamin D for Depression
- Meta-analyses of Vitamin D and Depression
- VitaminDWiki – Depression summary contains
Low plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling Japanese people aged between 40 and 74 years: The Murakami cohort study
Journal of Affective Disorders Volume 325, 15 March 2023, Pages 48-54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.104
Aya Hinata a, Kaori Kitamura a, Yumi Watanabe a, Keiko Kabasawa b, Toshiko Saito c, Akemi Takahashi d, Ribeka Takachi e, Ryosaku Kobayashi d, Rieko Oshiki d, Masayuki Iki f, Shoichiro Tsugane g, Ayako Sasaki h, Kei Watanabe i, Kazutoshi Nakamura a
Background
Association between vitamin D levels and the occurrence of depression are not always consistent. The present cohort study aimed to determine this association in older adults, using a method for measuring vitamin D levels which is more accurate than those used in previous studies.
Methods
Participants were 3447 individuals aged 40–74 years without depressive symptoms at baseline who participated in the 5-year follow-up survey. The baseline investigation, including a self-administered questionnaire survey and blood collection, was conducted in 2011–2013. Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels were measured, and divided into overall quartiles summed up by sub-quartiles and stratified by age, sex, and season. The outcome was depressive symptoms determined by the CES-D (11-item, cut-off score of 6/7) 5 years later. Covariates were demographics, lifestyles, baseline CES-D score, and disease history.
Results
Mean plasma 25(OH)D levels were 58.0 nmol/L in men and 45.7 in women (P < 0.0001), and cumulative incidences of depressive symptoms were 249/1577 (15.8 %) in men and 313/1870 (16.7 %) in women (P = 0.4526). The lower 25(OH)D quartile group had higher adjusted ORs in men and women combined (P for trend = 0.0107) and women (P for trend = 0.0003), but not in men. Adjusted ORs of the lowest quartile group were significantly higher than the highest group in men and women combined (OR = 1.39, 95 % CI: 1.06–1.81) and women (OR = 1.89, 95 % CI: 1.31–2.72).
Limitation
Depressive symptoms were self-reported.
Conclusions
Low vitamin D levels were associated with a high risk of depressive symptoms, especially in women. Women are thus considered a major target for preventing vitamin D deficiency to address depression.
Introduction
Depression is a common mental disorder that affects 322 million people worldwide, corresponding to roughly 4.4 % of the global population in 2015 (World Health Organization, 2017). The total estimated number of people living with depression increased by 18 % between 2005 and 2015 (GBD 2015 DALYs and HALE Collaborators, 2016). Depression is widely known as a major risk factor for suicide (Moitra et al., 2021). Furthermore, late-life depression is associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older people (Wei et al., 2019). For these reasons, prevention of depression is a high-priority public health issue.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin synthesized in the skin by sunlight and/or supplied from vitamin D-containing food. Levels of vitamin D are inversely associated with the risk of non-communicable chronic diseases, such as cancer (Han et al., 2019), cardiovascular diseases (Zhang et al., 2017), and diabetes (Lucato et al., 2017). Moreover, vitamin D is reportedly associated with mental health, consistent with the expression of vitamin D receptors and vitamin D metabolizing enzymes in the central nervous system (Humble, 2010). Recent evidence suggests that vitamin D is associated with the occurrence of depression. For instance, Li et al. (2019) conducted a meta-analysis of six cohort studies and concluded that vitamin D levels are inversely and dose-dependently associated with depression in older adults. However, relatively few published cohort studies have examined the association between vitamin D and depression, and results of the six cohort studies were not necessarily consistent with each other (Li et al., 2019). Results from two other recently published cohort studies on this theme were also conflicting (Briggs et al., 2019; Sahasrabudhe et al., 2020). Moreover, sex-dependent differences in the association between vitamin D levels and depression have been reported (Milaneschi et al., 2010; Rhee et al., 2020), but were not in mutual agreement.
One reason for the variability observed in the association between vitamin D levels and risk of depression is that vitamin D levels, evaluated by measuring blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), are influenced significantly by demographic and environmental factors, such as age, sex, and season (Nakamura et al., 2015). To investigate the longitudinal association between blood 25(OH)D levels and diseases in community-dwelling individuals, we established a cohort study (Nakamura et al., 2018) which classified 8497 blood samples into quartile groups of 25(OH)D levels, stratified by age, sex, and season. This allowed us to determine accurately the vitamin D status by adjusting for its major correlates. The present study aimed to determine the longitudinal association between vitamin D levels and depressive symptoms over a 5-year follow-up period in middle-aged and older Japanese adults.
Section snippets
Participants
All 34,802 residents of the Murakami region aged between 40 and 74 years were invited to participate in the study. Of these, 14,364 (41.3 %) participated in the baseline questionnaire survey of the Murakami cohort study conducted in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and 8497 of the 14,364 participants provided blood samples. The baseline survey determined that 5588 of these participants were eligible. Data from the 3447 people who participated in the 5-year follow-up survey and who had no missing data . . . .
Results
The mean age of participants was 60.5 years (SD, 8.5). Mean crude plasma 25(OH)D levels were 58.0 nmol/L (SD, 18.0) in men and 45.7 nmol/L (SD, 16.1) in women (P < 0.0001). By age group, mean 25(OH)D levels were 43.8 nmol/L (SD, 18.1) for participants in their 40s, 48.3 nmol/L (SD, 17.8) for those in their 50s, 54.1 nmol/L (SD, 17.8) for those in their 60s, and 55.2 nmol/L (SD, 16.7) for those in their 70s (P for trend<0.0001). Incidences of depressive symptoms were 249/1577 (15.8 %) in men and . . . . .
Discussion
The present 5-year cohort study, which targeted community-dwelling people aged between 40 and 74 years, demonstrated that 1) low vitamin D levels were associated with a high risk of developing depressive symptoms, 2) this association was robust in women but not observed in men, and 3) this association was likely to be more robust in older people than in younger people. . . . .
A meta-analysis published in 2019 (Li et al., 2019) reported that higher serum 25(OH)D levels are associated with a lower risk . . . .
CRediT authorship contribution statement
AH and KN conceived the study. AH, KK, YW, KKa, MI, ST, and KN designed the study. KKi, TS, AT, RT, RK, RO, AS, and KN conducted the research. AH and KN analyzed data and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. RT, MI, ST, and KW critically reviewed and revised the manuscript. KN had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of interest
None of the authors had conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
We thank Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd. and DiaSorin Inc. for providing the plasma 25(OH)D assay. We also thank the following institutions for their help in blood collection: Murakami City Government, Sekikawa Village Government, Awashimaura Village Government, the Medical Association of Murakami City and Iwafune District, Murakami General Hospital, Niigata Prefectural Sakamachi Hospital, Sampoku Tokushukai Hospital, Murakami Memorial Hospital, Senami Hospital, Sakanamachi Hospital, Aoki Clinic, Arakawa
Supporting sources
Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd. and DiaSorin Inc. provided the plasma 25(OH)D assay. The supporting sources had no involvement in or restrictions regarding publication.
Funding
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants (JP23249035, JP40339958, and JP15H04782) and a National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund (23-A31toku) (since 2010).
Role of the funding source
The funding sources had no involvement in or restrictions regarding publication.
32 References online
Intervention of Vitamin D for Depression
- Depression cost-effectively reduced by 50,000 IU of Vitamin D monthly (Iranian teens) – July 2023
- Infants getting an additional 800 IU of vitamin D for 2 years had 60% fewer psychiatric symptoms at age 7 – RCT May 2023
- Anxiety and Depression decreased in senior prediabetics with weekly 25,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Sept 2022
- Depression decreased by Vitamin D (12th study in VitaminDWiki) – RCT Nov 2022
- Overweight needed more EPA (4 grams) to fight depression – RCT Aug 2022
- Omega-3 did not prevent depression (they failed to reduce Omega-6, which blocks Omega-3) – RCT Dec 2021
- Weekly Vitamin D plus daily Magnesium is great (reduced depression in obese women in this case) – July 2021
- Depression in psychiatric youths reduced 28 percent after just 1 month of vitamin D – RCT Feb 2020
- Yet another study confirms Depression is treated by weekly Vitamin D (50,000 IU)– RCT Dec 2019
- Depression decreased after vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly to elderly in the case) – RCT Oct 2019
- Vitamin D - no cure for depression (when you use only 1200 IU) – Aug 2019
- Depression reduced in Diabetics with 3 months of 4,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT July 2019
- Vitamin D treatment of diabetes (50,000 IU every 2 weeks) augmented by probiotic – RCT June 2018
- Women had better sexual desire, orgasm and satisfaction after Vitamin D supplementation – Feb 2018
- Vitamin D depression RCT canceled: too many were taking Vitamin D supplements, etc. Feb 2018
- Depression in adolescent girls reduced somewhat by 50,000 IU weekly for 9 weeks – July 2017
- Perinatal depression decreased 40 percent with just a few weeks of 2,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Aug 2016
- Just 1500 IU of Vitamin D significantly helps Prozac – RCT March 2013
- Reduced depression with single 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT June 2013
- 40,000 IU vitamin D weekly reduced depression in many obese subjects – RCT 2008
- 50,000 IU Vitamin D weekly Improves Mood, Lowers Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetics – Oct 2013
Meta-analyses of Vitamin D and Depression
- Depression reduced by 8,000 IU of Vitamin D daily – meta-analysis Nov 2024
- Depression 1.6 X more likely if low Vitamin D, taking Vitamin D reduces depression – umbrella of meta-analyses – Jan 2023
- Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023
- Depression reduced if take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily – umbrella meta-analysis – Jan 2023
- Depression reduced if use more than 2,800 IU of vitamin D – meta-analysis Aug 2022
- Depression is treated by 2,000 IU of Vitamin D – 2 meta-analyses July 2022
- Depression treated by 50K IU Vitamin D weekly (but not 1,000 IU daily) – meta-analysis Jan 2021
- Mental disorders fought by Omega-3 etc. - meta-meta-analysis Oct 2019
- Depression less likely if more Vitamin D (12 percent per 10 ng) – meta-analysis July 2019
- Anxiety severity reduced if more than 2 grams of Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2018
- Less depression in seniors taking enough Omega-3 – meta-analysis July 2018
- Unipolar depression treated by Omega-3, Zinc, and probably Vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2017
- Depression is associated with low Magnesium – meta-analysis April 2015
- Clinical Trials of vitamin D can have “biological flaws” – Jan 2015
- Slight depression not reduced by adding vitamin D if already had enough (no surprise) – meta-analysis – Nov 2014
- Anti-depression medication about as good as big increase in vitamin D – meta-analysis of flawless data April 2014
- Depression might be reduced by vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2014
- Low vitamin D and depression - Study and meta-analysis, April 2013
- 2X more likely to be depressed if low vitamin D (cohort studies) - Meta-analysis Jan 2013
VitaminDWiki – Depression summary contains
- Low vitamin D is associated with most types of depression, Including: Seasonal Affective Disorder. manic depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, Depression during/after pregnancy, Seniors, Suicide
- Depression substantially reduced by Vitamin D, Omega-3, Magnesium, etc – many studies
- Depression 1.6 X more likely if low Vitamin D, taking Vitamin D reduces depression – umbrella of meta-analyses – Jan 2023
- Depression: Low vitamin D in the strongest of 11 risk factors – Jan 2023
- Yet another study confirms Depression is treated by weekly Vitamin D (50,000 IU)– RCT Dec 2019
- Depression treated by Omega-3 (again) – meta-analysis Aug 2019
- Supplementing with Vitamin D (or getting more sun) decreases most types of depression as well as drugs
- Omega-3, Magnesium, and St. Johns' Wort also decrease depression
- Speculate that some combination (Vit D, Omega-3, Mg, St John's) will decrease depression even more
- Note: Both Omega-3 and Magnesium increase the amount of vitamin D which gets to tissues
- Antidepressants reduce cellular Vitamin D, increasing fractures, CVD, etc. - Oct 2022
- There are
268 items in the Depression category in VitaminDWiki Some recent publications
- Depression in seniors greatly reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis June 2023
- Depression reduced if take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily – umbrella meta-analysis – Jan 2023
- Post-partum depression and low Vitamin D - many studies
- Depression: Low vitamin D in the strongest of 11 risk factors – Jan 2023
Depression 1.9 X more likely in Japanese women 5 years after having low vitamin D - March 2023Printer Friendly Follow this page for updates3185 visitors, last modified 14 Feb, 2023,