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Vitamin D and depressive symptoms in an early adolescent cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2022

Gengfu Wang ,
Mengyuan Yuan ,
Junjie Chang ,
Yonghan Li ,
Robert Blum  and
Puyu Su Open the ORCID record for Puyu Su [Opens in a new window]
Gengfu Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China
Mengyuan Yuan
Affiliation:
Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China
Junjie Chang
Affiliation:
Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China
Yonghan Li
Affiliation:
Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China
Robert Blum
Affiliation:
Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Puyu Su*
Affiliation:
Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China
*
Author for correspondence: Puyu Su, E-mail: supuyu@ahmu.edu.cn
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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.

Keywords

Cohort studydepressive symptomsearly adolescentsvitamin D
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 53 , Issue 12 , September 2023 , pp. 5852 - 5860
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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