Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

BJPsych Open

Publication Date

8-1-2024

Abstract

Aims The evidence for the association between vitamin-D deficiency and depression, although equivocal, has been established in several populations in different countries and supported by meta-analytical studies 1 . Much of the evidence for this comes from Western countries 2 . Similarly, the evidence for the benefits of supplementation, although shown, also comes from similar populations and is equivocal 3 . Need for data from different populations and for randomized controlled trials to establish causality is stressed by most researchers. This study aims for presentation reviews of the association between vitamin-D and depression in the GCC, using the publicly available data of Our World in Data. Methods The statistical analysis used median prevalence depressive disorders data (from 1990–2019) in the GCC countries (both sex and age-standardized (%)), which was downloaded from Our World in Data and was last updated on August 28, 2022. Vitamin D deficiency data were collected through a literature review search using PubMed and Google Scholar. A linear regression model was performed with the median prevalence of depressive disorders data as an outcome. The prevalence of vitamin-D deficiency, population median age and the interaction term between prevalence of vitamin-D deficiency and population median age were used as predictors. The effects of prevalence of depressive disorders both sex age standardized (AS) percentage (%) were estimated with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) using bootstrap covariance matrix estimator. Fitted model's likelihood ratio chi-square (LR χ 2 ) test with corresponding p-value was computed and reported. Results A positive association was observed between the median prevalence of depressive disorders and the prevalence of vitamin-D deficiency, adjusted for population median age, were observed (LR χ 2 p-value = 0.005) and adjusted R 2 = 0.706. Conclusion Prevalence of depressive disorders was associated with prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the population of GCC countries. Future randomized control trials on Vitamin D supplementation are needed to confirm these observations.

ISSN

2056-4724

Publisher

Royal College of Psychiatrists

Volume

10

Issue

S1

First Page

s49

Last Page

s49

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Vitamin-D deficiency, Depression, GCC countries, Randomized controlled trials, Population median age

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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