Postpartum depression and vitamin D: A systematic review

Abstract

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent mood disorder estimated to affect 20%-40% of women worldwide after childbirth. In recent studies, the effect of vitamin D on prevention of mood disorders and depression has been investigated, but it is still unclear how vitamin D may affect PPD. The evidence on the relevance between vitamin D deficiency and PPD is inconsistent, and assessment of the recent literature has not previously been carried out. Moreover, there are few clinical studies on PPD and vitamin D supplementation. Five studies have so far assessed the relationship between the levels of vitamin D and PPD. Findings from cohort studies suggest that vitamin-D deficiency is related to the incidence of PPD and vitamin D may play a significant role in the recovery of women with PPD, but it is uncertain whether these actions are the effect of vitamin D on the function of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the levels of estradiol, serotonin, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and/or of other mechanisms involved in PPD.

The Role of Vitamin D in Fertility and during Pregnancy and Lactation: A Review of Clinical Data

“…Importantly, meta-analyses of observational studies documented that low serum 25(OH)D concentrations in pregnancy are associated with increased risk of small for gestational age (SGA) and preterm birth [ 90 , 91 , 92 ]. Some meta-analyses have also shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with postpartum depression [ 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 ]. Other outcomes such as fetal bone growth or neonatal lung maturation may also be associated with vitamin D status, but more data are needed on these topics [ 97 , 98 ].…”

The effect of vitamin D supplement on negative emotions: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…There have been many studies exploring the potential associations between vitamin D and psychological phenomena or psychiatric disorders, including depression (Alavi, Khademalhoseini, Vakili, & Assarian, 2018; Amini, Jafarirad, & Amani, 2018; Bertone‐Johnson et al, 2012; Dumville et al, 2006; Ghaderi et al, 2017; Jorde, Sneve, Figenschau, Svartberg, & Waterloo, 2008; Khoraminya, Tehrani‐Doost, Jazayeri, Hosseini, & Djazayery, 2013; Pittampalli et al, 2018), anxiety (Armstrong et al, 2007; Huang et al, 2014; Pu et al, 2018), psychotic disorders (Chiang, Natarajan, & Fan, 2016), cognitive impairment (Degner, 2016; Etgen, Sander, Bickel, Sander, & Forstl, 2012), sleep disturbance (Gao et al, 2018; Ghaderi et al, 2017), autism spectrum disorder (Moradi et al, 2018; Patrick & Ames, 2014), and substance use (Ghaderi et al, 2017). Studies investigating the relationship between vitamin D and depression are the most common.…”

Role of Vitamin D in Preventing and Treating Selected Extraskeletal Diseases—An Umbrella Review

“…We identified 12 SRs [31,100,156,[172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180] covering 31 original publications between 1998 and 2017, plus five SRs [181][182][183][184][185] on depression in women before and after childbirth (Supplemental Tables S18-S21 and Figure S5). Most studies relied on dimensional self-ratings of depressive symptoms as outcome measures.…”

“…Pregnancy, the postpartum period, and in particular the perinatal period are associated with an increased risk of depression in women. In five SRs of mainly high quality, results have been summarised covering largely overlapping subsets of 11 original studies between 2010 and 2017 [181][182][183][184][185]. One SR summarised observational cohort studies [184], two SRs summarised the results of secondary analyses of a RCT and cohort studies [181,183], and one SR summarised the results of a RCT, secondary analyses of two RCTs and cohort studies [182].…”

“…In five SRs of mainly high quality, results have been summarised covering largely overlapping subsets of 11 original studies between 2010 and 2017 [181][182][183][184][185]. One SR summarised observational cohort studies [184], two SRs summarised the results of secondary analyses of a RCT and cohort studies [181,183], and one SR summarised the results of a RCT, secondary analyses of two RCTs and cohort studies [182]. In addition, one high-quality SR by Wang et al (2018) included seven cohort studies, one case-control study and one RCT, which investigated the relationships between circulating levels or supplementation of vitamin D with antepartum or postpartum depression [185].…”