title: Maternal early-pregnancy vitamin D status is associated with maternal depressive symptoms in the Amsterdam Born Children and Their Development cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine low maternal vitamin D status as a potential risk factor for high levels of depressive symptoms in a pregnant population.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the Amsterdam Born Children and Their Development cohort, maternal serum vitamin D (n = 4236) was measured during early pregnancy (median, 13 weeks) and labeled "deficient" (≤ 29.9 nM), "insufficient" (30-49.9 nM), "sufficient" (50-79.9 nM), and "normal" (≥ 80 nM). Maternal depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale at 16-week gestation. The association of vitamin D status with high levels of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression score ≥ 16) was assessed by multivariate logistic regression (final sample, 4101).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 23% of women had vitamin D deficiency, and 21% of women had vitamin D insufficiency. Women with high levels of depressive symptoms (28%) had lower vitamin D concentrations than women with low levels of depressive symptoms (p < .001). After adjustment for constitutional factors, life-style and psychosocial covariates, and sociodemographic factors, vitamin D deficiency (odds ratio [OR], 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.95) and insufficiency (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.12-1.85) were significantly associated with high levels of depressive symptoms. Additional analyses revealed a linear trend, with an OR of 1.05 (95% CI, 1.02-1.08) for each 10-nM decrease in vitamin D status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, low early-pregnancy vitamin D status was associated with elevated depressive symptoms in pregnancy. Further research, using a randomized controlled design, would be required to confirm the causality of this association and the potential benefits of higher vitamin D intake for psychosocial health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Documentation, and Health Promotion, Public Health Service, PO Box 2200, 1000 CE Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brandenbarg
authors.forename: Tanja G M
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Vrijkotte
authors.forename: Geertje
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goedhart
authors.forename: Manon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Eijsden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D