Takeaway
- Vitamin D deficiency (<20 nmoL/L) and insufficiency (20-50 nmoL/L) are associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset depression in middle-aged adults.
- Moreover, vitamin D deficiency, and to a lesser extent insufficiency, may predict sustained depressive symptoms in those who are already depressed.
Why this matters
- Findings support the notion that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency predate the development of depression, and there are a number of potential direct biological mechanisms through which vitamin D might play a role in this development.
Study design
- This population-based study evaluated the prospective associations between vitamin D status at the baseline assessment (2006-2010) and depression measured at the follow-up assessment (2016) in 139,128 participants (age, 40-69 years) using data from the UK Biobank.
- Funding: Guy’s Charity; Medical Research Council.
Key results
- In people without depression (n=127,244), both vitamin D insufficiency (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.20) and deficiency (aOR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.11-1.34) increased the risk of developing new-onset depression at follow-up.
- Similarly, both vitamin D insufficiency (aOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.00-1.23) and deficiency (aOR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.14-1.51) were associated with an increased risk of depression in those who were depressed at baseline (n=11,884).
- When vitamin D was used as a continuous variable, the risk of new depression declined modestly with every unit (nmoL/L) increase in vitamin D in participants:
- without depression (aOR, 0.996; 95% CI, 0.994-0.997); and
- with depression (aOR, 0.996; 95% CI, 0.994-0.999).
Limitations
- Risk of bias.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
