Association Between Vitamin D Serum Level and Depression

Background: Vitamin D deficiency has been identified as a global problem and about 14% of the world population has inadequate vitamin D levels. It is a neuroactive com- pound, a prohormone, and highly active in a variety of body tissues including the brain. The role of vitamin D in normal bone physiology, the pathogenicity of rickets, osteomalacia, and osteo- porosis has been long recognized. However, in recent years a body of evidence has accumulated associating low serum vitamin D deficiency with a myriad of pathologies including cardiovas- cular disease, hypertension, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and even cancer. Objective: Many researches demonstrate that the brain contains huge amount of vitamin D and investigators began to be interested in its part in mental disorders. Vitamin D may be an important contributor to psychiat- ric illnesses so clinicians should not leave this serious issue unresolved. The aim of this review is to describe our current understanding of the association between vitamin D and depression. Method: It was conducted a systematic bibliographical research, of PubMed, MedLine literature and Cochrane database without language restriction to identify all studies concerning the association between vit- amin D deficiency and mental disorders from 1995 to October 2015. Results: Our searches yielded 198 appropriate citations, from which we included 61 relevant studies. Conclusion: The repeated findings have delineated a positive correlation between vitamin D deficiency and de- pression. However, there is no clear consensus regarding the use of vitamin D for the treatment of depression.