Journal of Inflammation Research (May 2024)

Associations Between Vitamin K and Suicide Attempts in Patients with Depression: A Case-Control Study

  • Wang ST,
  • He XY,
  • Le J,
  • Sun T,
  • Peng R

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 3423 – 3431

Abstract

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Shao-Ting Wang,* Xiao-Yun He,* Juan Le, Ting Sun, Rui Peng Department of Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Translational Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430060, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Rui Peng, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Translational Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430060, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Hypovitaminosis K has been linked to depression and suicide, but epidemiological research is scarce. This study aimed to explore the association among vitamin K with depression and suicidal attempts.Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 146 cases with a history of suicidal attempts and 149 subjects without a lifetime history of suicidal attempts. The levels of thyroid hormones, lipid profile, inflammatory cytokines, and vitamins were measured.Results: Subjects who had suicidal attempts presented with a significant decrease in FT4, TC, vitamin D, and vitamin K but increased CRP levels. In these variables, vitamin K has a better diagnostic value for suicidal attempts in depressed patients, with a sensitivity of 0.842 and a specificity of 0.715. Correlation analysis suggested that vitamin K was significantly and positively related to FT4, TC, LDL, and sdLDL. Multivariate analysis showed that serum vitamin K level predicts suicidal attempts in depressive patients (OR = 0.614, P = 0.004, 95% CI 0.153– 0.904). Moreover, a negative correlation between vitamin K and suicidal attempts was also noted for partial FT4, CRP, and vitamin D strata analysis.Conclusion: Our study suggests that low vitamin K levels were correlated with suicidal attempts in patients with depression, indicating that vitamin K deficiency might be a biological risk factor for depression.Keywords: vitamin K, suicidal attempts, depression

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