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Vitamin D, testosterone and depression in middle-aged and elderly men: a systematic review.

Critical reviews in food science and nutrition
January 1, 2023
Shirin Amini et al. (3 authors)
Systematic ReviewJournal ArticleHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to investigate the relationship between vitamin D deficiency (potentially mitigated by sunlight exposure), depression, and testosterone levels in middle-aged and elderly men.

Results Summary

The study found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with depression in older men and that vitamin D may play a protective role in depression through its effect on testosterone. Sunlight exposure or vitamin D supplementation was recommended as a low-risk intervention.

Population

Middle-aged and elderly men

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (5)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
vitamin D deficiency
increase
depression
older men
-
is associated with the incidence of
#1
vitamin D
increase
testosterone
-
-
positive association between
#2
testosterone
increase
mood
-
-
can involve in
#3
vitamin D
decrease
depression
-
-
may also play a protective role in
#4
vitamin D supplement or exposure to the sunlight
decrease
depression
middle-aged and elderly men
-
to prevent
#5
Abstract

Depression is one of the common psychiatric disorders during elderly. This systematic review aims to present the relationship between vitamin D deficiency, depression and testosterone serum concentration in the middle-aged and elderly men. We performed a comprehensive search in the Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Science, Cochrane, Science Direct, and Scopus databases to collect any relevant published studies. The data of the articles that had been investigated the relationship between depression and 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25[OH]D) serum concentration (nine studies), or testosterone and 25[OH]D (six studies), as the primary outcomes, were included in our review. The results of the cohort and cross-sectional studies have shown that vitamin-D deficiency is associated with the incidence of depression in older men. In addition, documents have reported the positive association between vitamin D and testosterone, and previous studies have shown that testosterone can involve in the mood. We have proposed scientific mechanisms that have shown vitamin D may also play a protective role in depression through its effect on the testosterone. Therefore, it is a low risk and safe recommendation for the middle-aged and elderly men to use the vitamin D supplement or exposure to the sunlight to prevent depression.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
MaleAgedMiddle AgedHumansTestosteroneDepressionCross-Sectional StudiesVitamin DVitamin D DeficiencyVitamins
Study Links
Quality Scores
Safety85
Efficacy75/10
Quality80/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations11
Citations/Year5.5
Relative Citation Ratio3.29
NIH Percentile86.8%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score2.84
Normalized Score0.80
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