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Vitamin D serum levels are cross‐sectionally but not prospectively associated with late‐life depression
Author(s) -
Jovanova O.,
Aarts N.,
Noordam R.,
CarolaZillikens M.,
Hofman A.,
Tiemeier H.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/acps.12689
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , vitamin d and neurology , medicine , late life depression , vitamin d deficiency , prospective cohort study , hazard ratio , confounding , rotterdam study , population , risk factor , cross sectional study , confidence interval , psychiatry , environmental health , hippocampal formation , economics , macroeconomics , pathology
Objective The evidence for a prospective association of vitamin D deficiency with the occurrence of late‐life depression is limited. We aimed to study the long‐term association between vitamin D serum levels and depression in a large population‐based study of older adults. Method We included 3251 participants from the Rotterdam Study, aged 55 and older with 32 400 person‐years follow‐up for depression. Baseline 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25( OH )D) serum levels were analyzed continuously and categorically. Repeated depressive symptoms' questionnaire assessments were used to assess the change of depressive symptoms. Semistructured psychiatric interviews, and GP records were used to assess incident major depressive disorder according to DSM ‐ IV criteria. Results Low serum vitamin D levels were cross‐sectionally associated with more depressive symptoms. However, low 25( OH )D serum levels were not prospectively associated with change of depressive symptoms (unstandardized beta = 0.02, 95% CI = −0.23; 0.26) or incident MDD (hazard ratio = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.86; 1.05). Conclusion We observed a cross‐sectional but no prospective association between serum vitamin D levels and depression. A cross‐sectional association in the absence of the longitudinal association can mostly be attributed to reverse causality or residual confounding. Probably, vitamin D deficiency is not an independent risk factor for depression but co‐occurs with late‐life depression.