ArticleBMC pediatrics2026
Nutritional biomarkers and three-month symptom changes in antidepressant-free adolescents with major depressive disorder: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesMajor depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence is influenced by genetic, psychosocial, and biological factors. Nutritional deficits-particularly vitamin D, vitamin B12, folate, and iron-are linked to mood regulation, though inconsistently. This study investigated associations between nutritional biomarkers and depressive/anxiety symptoms in adolescents with MDD and tracked three-month changes.
methodsIn this retrospective cohort, 125 adolescents with MDD and 125 healthy controls were identified from records between January 2024 and September 2025. MDD was confirmed with K-SADS-PL, and only patients not receiving ongoing antidepressant treatment during the baseline-to-follow-up interval were included. Symptoms (RCADS) and baseline biochemical markers (vitamin D, B12, folate, ferritin, iron indices, thyroid hormones) were obtained for both groups. For the MDD group, anonymized routine-care follow-up records obtained 75-105 days after baseline were also reviewed, whereas controls had baseline records only.
resultsCompared with controls, adolescents with MDD had higher BMI percentile (p = .012) and lower vitamin D (median 15.0 vs. 18.0 ng/mL, p < .001) and folate (6.2 vs. 7.1 ng/mL, p < .001); both survived Bonferroni correction. Ferritin was lower at the unadjusted level (13.6 vs. 17.1 ng/mL, p = .019) but not after correction. Vitamin B12, iron, and hemoglobin did not differ. Over three months, vitamin D, B12, and folate showed modest increases that did not remain significant after correction, whereas RCADS depressive and anxiety scores declined markedly across all domains (all p < .001). In adjusted models, no biomarker independently predicted symptom severity, and biomarker changes were not consistently associated with symptom changes; only Δfolate showed a modest nominal association with improvement in the adjusted change model.
conclusionsAdolescents with MDD showed lower vitamin D and folate than controls, but nutritional biomarkers did not independently predict symptom severity, and the three-month symptom improvement-occurring without antidepressants-was not explained by biomarker changes and likely reflects multiple factors including regression to the mean. Routine biochemical screening may be clinically useful, but causal claims are not warranted; larger controlled trials are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42449292What OpenQuestion holds
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.