Mood Emot.  2021 Jul;19(2):55-63. 10.35986/me.2021.19.2.55.

Association between Depressive Symptoms and Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults with Overweight or Obesity

• Chung HC
• Jung YE
• Park C
• Kim MD
• Yoon BH

• KMID: 2525649
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.35986/me.2021.19.2.55

Abstract

Background
The relationship between a low vitamin D level and depression has been demonstrated repeatedly. We assessed the correlation between vitamin D status and the prevalence of depression according to body weight status.
Methods
Data from 1,747 participants who took part in the 2014 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. The presence of depression was identified by the brief, self-reported Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), vitamin D status was defined based on the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level, and body weight status was expressed as the body mass index.
Results
After adjusting for potential confounding factors, participants in the vitamin D deficiency group (odds ratio [OR], 2.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-7.20) and severe deficiency group (OR, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.04-8.00) were significantly more likely to experience depression. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that among the participants with overweight or obesity, those in the vitamin D deficiency group were 3.71 times more likely than those in the sufficiency group (OR, 3.71; 95% CI, 1.08-12.74) to experience depression.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest a significant association between low vitamin D levels and depression in adults with overweight or obesity. Further studies are needed to elucidate the association between vitamin D status and depression according to body weight status.

Keyword

Vitamin D; Depression; Overweight; Obese