ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2021
Vitamin D, Depressive Symptoms, and Covid-19 Pandemic.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vitamin D and depression in adults: A systematic review.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2025Pooled it
- Vitamin D and Postpartum Depression: A Narrative Review.Clinics and practice · 2026Review
- Nutritional biomarkers and three-month symptom changes in antidepressant-free adolescents with major depressive disorder: a retrospective cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Article
- Vitamin D as a Lifespan Neuroimmune Signal in Psychiatry: From Developmental Risk to Precision Nutrition.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Causal Influences of Micronutrients on Anxiety: Insights From an Observational and Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Impact of different milling techniques towards vitamin DJournal of food science and technology · 2025Article
- Comparison of the role of vitamin D in normal organs and those affected by COVID-19.International journal of medical sciences · 2025Review
- Exploring the Relationship Between Dietary Habits and Perceptions of Mental and Physical Disorders, or a Sense of Accomplishment in Japan.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of Vitamin D on Neurological and Mental Disorders.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The Non-conventional Effects of Hypovitaminosis D: A Pandemic Even in Sunlight-Rich Countries.Cureus · 2024Review
- Interaction between Fokl polymorphism and vitamin D deficiency in the symptoms of mental disorders in adults: a population-based study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Recovery from (treatment-resistant) depression after lifestyle changes and micronutrient precision supplementation: a preliminary field study in patients.BMC psychology · 2023Article
- Influence of sunlight on the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and sleep quality in Brazilian adults: A population-based study.Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.) · 2023Article
- Review
- Article
- Vitamin D in Depression: A Potential Bioactive Agent to Reduce Suicide and Suicide Attempt Risk.Nutrients · 2023Review
- The Mediation Effect of Peripheral Biomarkers of Calcium Metabolism and Chronotypes in Bipolar Disorder Psychopathology.Metabolites · 2022Article
- Vitamin D3 and its necessity for health.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2022Article
- COVID-19 and neurological sequelae: Vitamin D as a possible neuroprotective and/or neuroreparative agent.Life sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, studies across diverse countries have strongly pointed toward the emergence of a mental health crisis, with a dramatic increase in the prevalence of depressive psychopathology and suicidal tendencies. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with an increased risk of mental health problems as well as individual responses to stress. Studies have discussed the relationship between low serum vitamin D concentrations and depressive symptoms, suggesting that maintaining adequate concentrations of serum vitamin D seems to have a protective effect against it. Vitamin D was found to contribute to improved serotonergic neurotransmission in the experimental model of depression by regulating serotonin metabolism. The signaling of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D, through vitamin D receptor (VDR) induces the expression of the gene of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2), influences the expression of serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) as well as the levels of monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), the enzyme responsible for serotonin catabolism. Vitamin D also presents a relevant link with chronobiological interplay, which could influence the development of depressive symptoms when unbalance between light-dark cycles occurs. In this Perspective, we discussed the significant role of vitamin D in the elevation of stress-related depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is suggested that vitamin D monitoring and, when deficiency is detected, supplementation could be considered as an important healthcare measure while lockdown and social isolation procedures last during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.