Vitamin D and depressive symptoms in an early adolescent cohort

Abstract

Background To explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between vitamin D and depressive symptoms across early adolescence. Methods This longitudinal study included 1607 early adolescents [mean (s.d.) age, 12.49 years; 972 (60.5%) males] from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort, recruited from a middle school in Anhui Province and followed up annually (2019–2021). Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured in both 2019 and 2021. Self-reports on depression were assessed at each of three time points from 2019 to 2021. Results In the whole sample, higher baseline serum 25(OH)D levels were linked with a lower risk of cumulative incident depression within two-year follow-ups (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–0.99) and the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–0.99). Baseline vitamin D deficiency (VDD) (adjusted RR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.10–2.05) were associated with an increased risk for the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves. Remitted VDD was positively related to one dichotomous depression symptoms across three waves (adjusted OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.15–4.01). The above-mentioned significant association was also found in males. Additionally, baseline VDD (adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04–2.44) and persistent VDD (adjusted OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.02–2.60) were linked to an increased risk of having two dichotomous depression symptoms only in males. Conclusions Our results highlight a prospective association between baseline vitamin D and depression risk in early adolescents. Additionally, a male-specific association between vitamin D and depression risk was observed. Our findings support a potential beneficial effect of vitamin D supplementation in reducing depression risk in early adolescents.

Is Sunshine Vitamin Related to Adolescent Depression? A Cross-Sectional Study of Vitamin D Status and Depression Among Rural Adolescents

“…Studies have shown that Vitamin D-deficient people have increased odds of having clinically significant depression. Various studies conducted in different parts of the world suggest that irrespective of nutrition intake, longitudinal and latitudinal variation for sun exposure, skin pigmentation, and gender, there is a clear causal relationship between vitamin D status and depression among the healthy general population and establishing that Vitamin D is crucial to mental health [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Regardless of this sufficient evidence, biological mechanisms coupling Vitamin D levels and mental health status are still not fully understood.…”

Vitamin D and suicidality: a Chinese early adolescent cohort and Mendelian randomization study

“…In this study, data were obtained from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort (CEAC) (Wang et al. , 2022 ). The CEAC is an annual three-wave longitudinal study to examine the risk factors associated with emotional and behavioural problems in Chinese early adolescents.…”

“…, 2023 ; Wang et al. , 2022 ). However, most previous studies on vitamin D and suicidality matched sex or adjusted sex as a covariate in the statistical models, which would overlook the sex differences.…”

“…GRS analysis showed a higher risk of attempted suicide with a greater number of low vitamin D alleles in men but not in women (Wei et al, 2021), indicating a sexspecific relationship. Additionally, the relationship between vitamin D and other mental problems was reported to be sex-specific (Hinata et al, 2023;Wang et al, 2022). However, most previous studies on vitamin D and suicidality matched sex or adjusted sex as a covariate in the statistical models, which would overlook the sex differences.…”