Associations Between Vitamin K and Suicide Attempts in Patients with Depression: A Case-Control Study

• Published in: Journal of inflammation research 2024-05, Vol.17, p.3423-3431
• Main Authors: Wang, Shao-Ting, He, Xiao-Yun, Le, Juan, Sun, Ting, Peng, Rui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alfacalcidol; Analysis; Calcifediol; Cytokines; depression; Depression, Mental; Epidemiology; Low density lipoproteins; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Risk factors; suicidal attempts; Suicidal behavior; Thyroid hormones; Vitamin D; vitamin k
• ISSN: 1178-7031; 1178-7031
• DOI: 10.2147/JIR.S463204

Hypovitaminosis K has been linked to depression and suicide, but epidemiological research is scarce. This study aimed to explore the association among vitamin K with depression and suicidal attempts. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 146 cases with a history of suicidal attempts and 149 subjects without a lifetime history of suicidal attempts. The levels of thyroid hormones, lipid profile, inflammatory cytokines, and vitamins were measured. Subjects who had suicidal attempts presented with a significant decrease in FT4, TC, vitamin D, and vitamin K but increased CRP levels. In these variables, vitamin K has a better diagnostic value for suicidal attempts in depressed patients, with a sensitivity of 0.842 and a specificity of 0.715. Correlation analysis suggested that vitamin K was significantly and positively related to FT4, TC, LDL, and sdLDL. Multivariate analysis showed that serum vitamin K level predicts suicidal attempts in depressive patients (OR = 0.614, = 0.004, 95% CI 0.153-0.904). Moreover, a negative correlation between vitamin K and suicidal attempts was also noted for partial FT4, CRP, and vitamin D strata analysis. Our study suggests that low vitamin K levels were correlated with suicidal attempts in patients with depression, indicating that vitamin K deficiency might be a biological risk factor for depression.