Tiemeier Henning, van Tuijl H Ruud, Hofman Albert, Meijer John, Kiliaan Amanda J, Breteler Monique M B
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Centre, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Am J Psychiatry. 2002 Dec;159(12):2099-101. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.159.12.2099.
The associations of vitamin B(12), folate, and homocysteine with depression were examined in a population-based study.
The authors screened 3,884 elderly people for depressive symptoms. Subjects with positive screening results had psychiatric workups. Folate, vitamin B(12), and homocysteine blood levels were compared in 278 persons with depressive symptoms, including 112 with depressive disorders, and 416 randomly selected reference subjects. Adjustments were made for age, gender, cardiovascular disease, and functional disability.
Hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B(12) deficiency, and to a lesser extent, folate deficiency were all related to depressive disorders. For folate deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia, the association with depressive disorders was substantially reduced after adjustment for functional disability and cardiovascular disease, but for vitamin B(12) this appeared independent.
The association of vitamin B(12) and folate with depressive disorders may have different underlying mechanisms. Vitamin B(12) may be causally related to depression, whereas the relation with folate is due to physical comorbidity.
在一项基于人群的研究中，探讨维生素B12、叶酸和同型半胱氨酸与抑郁症之间的关联。
作者对3884名老年人进行抑郁症状筛查。筛查结果呈阳性的受试者接受了精神科检查。比较了278名有抑郁症状的患者（包括112名患有抑郁症的患者）和416名随机选择的对照受试者的叶酸、维生素B12和同型半胱氨酸的血液水平。对年龄、性别、心血管疾病和功能残疾进行了校正。
高同型半胱氨酸血症、维生素B12缺乏以及程度较轻的叶酸缺乏均与抑郁症有关。对于叶酸缺乏和高同型半胱氨酸血症，在对功能残疾和心血管疾病进行校正后，与抑郁症的关联大幅降低，但对于维生素B12，这种关联似乎是独立的。
维生素B12和叶酸与抑郁症的关联可能有不同的潜在机制。维生素B12可能与抑郁症存在因果关系，而与叶酸的关系则归因于身体合并症。
