Frontiers in Public Health (Aug 2022)

Effect of vitamin D supplementation on the incidence and prognosis of depression: An updated meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials

  • Fei Xie,
  • Tongmin Huang,
  • Dandi Lou,
  • Rongrong Fu,
  • Chaoxiong Ni,
  • Jiaze Hong,
  • Lingyan Ruan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.903547
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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BackgroundThere have been several controversies about the correlation between vitamin D and depression. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between vitamin D supplementation and the incidence and prognosis of depression and to analyze the latent effects of subgroups including population and supplement strategy.MethodsA systematic search for articles before July 2021 in databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library) was conducted to investigate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the incidence and prognosis of depression.ResultsThis meta-analysis included 29 studies with 4,504 participants, indicating that the use of vitamin D was beneficial to a decline in the incidence of depression (SMD: −0.23) and improvement of depression treatment (SMD: −0.92). Subgroup analysis revealed that people with low vitamin D levels (<50 nmol/L) and females could notably benefit from vitamin D in both prevention and treatment of depression. The effects of vitamin D with a daily supplementary dose of >2,800 IU and intervention duration of ≥8 weeks were considered significant in both prevention and treatment analyses. Intervention duration ≤8 weeks was recognized as effective in the treatment group.ConclusionOur results demonstrate that vitamin D has a beneficial impact on both the incidence and the prognosis of depression. Whether suffering from depression or not, individuals with low vitamin D levels, dose >2,800 IU, intervention duration ≥8 weeks, and all females are most likely to benefit from vitamin D supplementation.

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