Serum Concentrations of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Depression in a General Middle-Aged to Elderly Population in Finland

Low concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] have been postulated to associate with an increased prevalence of depression. As there are a limited number of publications on this issue, we examined the association between serum 25(OH)D and depression in a general middle-aged or older population. A population-based cross-sectional study. A total of 1602 men and women from the population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD) in Eastern Finland, aged 53-73 y in 1998-2001, were analysed. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the DSM-III depression scale, and those individuals who had scores over 4 (range 0-12) or had reported undergoing current antidepressant therapy, were considered as suffering from depression. Associations were estimated in serum 25(OH)D tertiles using logistic regression. Among the participants, 183 subjects (11.4%) were considered to have depression. The mean age of the subjects was 62.6 years (SD 6.4, range 53.4- 73.8 years). The mean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 43.8 nmol/L (SD 17.7, range 8.5-112.8 nmol/L), concentrations