Senior Depression and Vitamin D – review

Created March 2016

The Role of Vitamin D in the Prevention of Late-life Depression

Journal of Affective Disorders doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.022

Olivia I. Okerekea, b, c, , , Ankura Singha

Highlights

• Preventing late-life depression is a priority, and diet may be a useful strategy.

• Low vitamin D is related to adverse brain and behavior outcomes in animal models.

• Observational data suggested vitamin d-mood links but were mostly cross-sectional.

• Vitamin D supplementation was related to better later-life mood in only one RCT.

• RCT limitations: low doses, suboptimal change in vitamin D levels, short durations.

* Elderly depression associated with low vitamin D - July 2015 * Depression not reduced when vitamin D levels less than 30 nanograms – RCT Nov 2015 * Depression greatly reduced with higher levels of vitamin D – April 2014 * Expect that few RCT in the study on this page achieved high levels of vitamin D * Depression appears to consume vitamin D – Feb 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 The items in Deprssion and Seniors categories in VitaminDWiki: {category} Magnesium and Omega-3 (Vitamin D Cofactors) also treat depression * Depression is associated with low Magnesium – meta-analysis April 2015 * Depression treated somewhat by Omega-3 (St. John's Wort better) – RAND org reviews 2015 * Depression substantially decreased with Omega-3 – Sept 2015 Notes by Henry Lahore - admin of VitaminDWiki * When I have a health problem I typcially try ALL of the rasonable solutions concurrently. * IF I were depressed I would try Vitamin D + Magnesium + Omega-3 + St. John's Wart

Background

In this article, we review current evidence regarding potential benefits of vitamin D for improving mood and reducing depression risk in older adults. We summarize gaps in knowledge and describe future efforts that may clarify the role of vitamin D in late-life depression prevention.

Methods

MEDLINE and PsychINFO databases were searched for all articles on vitamin D and mood that had been published up to and including May 2015. Observational studies and randomized trials with 50 or more participants were included. We excluded studies that involved only younger adults and/or exclusively involved persons with current depression.

Results

  • Twenty observational (cross-sectional and prospective) studies and

  • 10 randomized trials (nine were randomized placebo-controlled trials [RCTs];

    • one was a randomized blinded comparison trial)

were reviewed. Inverse associations of vitamin D blood level or vitamin D intake with depression were found in 13 observational studies; three identified prospective relations.

Results from all but one of the RCTs showed no statistically significant differences in depression outcomes between vitamin D and placebo groups.

Limitations

Observational studies were mostly cross-sectional and frequently lacked adequate control of confounding. RCTs often featured low treatment doses, suboptimal post-intervention changes in biochemical levels of vitamin D, and/or short trial durations.

Conclusion

Vitamin D level-mood associations were observed in most, but not all, observational studies; results indicated that vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for late-life depression. However, additional data from well-designed RCTs are required to determine the impact of vitamin D in late-life depression prevention.

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Tags: Depression Seniors