Low Vitamin D Status and Suicide: A Case-Control Study of Active Duty Military Service Members

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 1; p. e51543
• Main Authors: Umhau, John C., George, David T., Heaney, Robert P., Lewis, Michael D., Ursano, Robert J., Heilig, Markus, Hibbeln, Joseph R., Schwandt, Melanie L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.01.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 25-Hydroxyvitamin D; Active control; Adult; Age Factors; Alcoholism; Analysis; Armed forces; Astronomical Sciences; Biology; Brain; Brain research; Case studies; Case-Control Studies; Epidemiology; Female; Health sciences; Humans; Low level; Male; Medicine; Mental depression; Mental health; Military; Military deployment; Military Personnel; Military psychology; Neurosciences; Odds Ratio; Population; Preventive medicine; Principal components analysis; Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Risk management; Risk reduction; Seasons; Sex Factors; Sex ratio; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Supplements; Surveillance; Vitamin D; Vitamin D - analogs & derivatives; Vitamin D - blood; Vitamin deficiency; Vitamins - blood; United States > US; Maryland

Considering that epidemiological studies show that suicide rates in many countries are highest in the spring when vitamin D status is lowest, and that low vitamin D status can affect brain function, we sought to evaluate if a low level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] could be a predisposing factor...