Vitamin D Levels and Depressive Symptoms’ Severity Among University Employees in Lebanon

BACKGROUND: Despite the evidence that the association between serum vitamin D level and susceptibility to depression is altered by ethnicity and vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms, high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, and parallel substantial burden of depression among Middle Eastern/ Arab adult populations, research exploring whether low serum vitamin D level is associated with increased risk of depression among Arab adult populations is almost non-existent.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and severity of depressive symptoms among a sample of healthy Lebanese adults, controlling for multiple confounders.

METHODS: A total of 351 employees at a private university in Lebanon were surveyed. Information about sociodemographic, lifestyle habits, medical/ family history; and depressive symptoms were collected using a background questionnaire, international physical activity questionnaire –short form, and Patient Health Questionnaire, respectively. Anthropometric measurements and fasting blood samples were collected using standard methods. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were measured by means of ELISA. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Sample mean age was 42.36 years. In the fully adjusted model, higher depression scores were found to be border-line significantly (p= 0.058) associated with lower serum 25-(OH)D levels and significantly associated with younger age, female sex, lower income, chronic illness diagnosis, family history of mental illness, number of stressful life events, and intake of antidepressants.

CONCLUSION: We did not find any significant independent association between serum 25(OH)D levels and severity of depressive symptoms in a sample of Lebanese employees of a private university.