Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Depression in Older Adults: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Haibin Li; Dianqin Sun; Anxin Wang; Huiying Pan; Wei Feng; Chee H Ng; Gabor S Ungvari; Lixin Tao; Xia Li; Wei Wang; Yu-Tao Xiang; Xiuhua Guo

doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2019.05.022

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Depression in Older Adults: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2019 Nov;27(11):1192-1202. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2019.05.022. Epub 2019 Jun 5.

Authors

Haibin Li¹, Dianqin Sun², Anxin Wang¹, Huiying Pan², Wei Feng¹, Chee H Ng³, Gabor S Ungvari⁴, Lixin Tao¹, Xia Li⁵, Wei Wang⁶, Yu-Tao Xiang⁷, Xiuhua Guo⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Australia; Division of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
⁵ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ Global Health and Genomics, School of Medical Sciences and Health, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.
⁷ Unit of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China. Electronic address: xyutly@gmail.com.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: statguo@ccmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31262683
DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2019.05.022

Abstract

Objective: The association between serum vitamin D and risk of depression in older adults is controversial. We performed a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to examine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and the risk of depression in older population.

Methods: Studies published before February 2018 in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases were systematically searched. Prospective cohort studies that examined the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and the risk of depression in older adults were included. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled hazard ratio and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals. A nonlinear dose-response association was examined using restricted cubic spline functions.

Results: Six prospective studies covering 16,287 older adults with 1,157 cases of depression were included and analyzed. The pooled hazard ratio of depression for per 10-ng/mL increment in serum 25(OH)D was 0.88 (95% confidence intervals: 0.78-0.99, I² = 79.0%, p <0.001 for heterogeneity). A linear dose-response association between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and incident depression was observed (p = 0.96 for nonlinearity).

Conclusion: Serum 25(OH)D concentration is negatively associated with the risk of depression in older adults. This meta-analysis suggests that increasing 25(OH)D levels may be a useful approach to reduce the risk of depression in older adults and highlights the need for further large-scale clinical studies.

Keywords: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D; depression; dose–response; meta-analysis.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Depression / blood*
Depressive Disorder / blood*
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Female
Humans
Male
Proportional Hazards Models
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives*
Vitamin D / blood

Substances

Vitamin D
25-hydroxyvitamin D