Vitamin K Deficiency Closely Linked to Depression and Suicide Risk: Study

A recent research published in the Journal of Inflammation Research uncovered a potential link between low levels of vitamin K and increased risk of depression and suicidal behavior. Despite the limited epidemiological studies in this area, this new study highlighted strong evidence which suggests vitamin K deficiency could be a significant biological risk factor for these mental health issues.

This retrospective cross-sectional analysis involved a total of 295 participants and divided into two groups, where 146 individuals had a history of suicide attempts and 149 individuals had no history of suicide attempts. This research measured various biological markers, including thyroid hormones, lipid profiles, inflammatory cytokines and vitamins to explore the potential associations with depression and suicidal behavior.

The results found that the participants who had attempted suicide expressed markedly lower levels of FT4 (free thyroxine), total cholesterol (TC), vitamin D and vitamin K. Also, these individuals showed increased levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) which indicates inflammation.

Among the different variables examined, vitamin K emerged as a strong predictor of suicidal behavior in depressed patients. The research reported a sensitivity of 0.842 and a specificity of 0.715 for vitamin K levels in diagnosing the suicidal attempts among the depressed individuals. This means that vitamin K levels were accurate in identifying the individuals at risk for suicidal behavior in over 80% of cases.

Correlation analysis further revealed that vitamin K levels were significantly and positively related to several other biomarkers, including FT4, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and small dense LDL cholesterol. These findings suggest a broader interaction between vitamin K and other physiological processes that may influence mental health.

The multivariate analysis illuminated the importance of vitamin K as a predictive factor for suicidal attempts in patients with depression. Also, the study found that serum vitamin K levels significantly predicted suicidal behavior (Odds Ratio = 0.614, P = 0.004, 95% Confidence Interval 0.153–0.904). The outcomes observed a negative correlation between vitamin K levels and suicidal attempts when analyzing the data for FT4, CRP and vitamin D. This indicates that lower levels of vitamin K are associated with a higher risk of suicide attempts in the context of other health markers.

The findings of this study suggest that monitoring and managing vitamin K levels could play a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of depression and suicidal behavior. Given the significant diagnostic value of vitamin K, clinicians might consider incorporating vitamin K assessments into routine evaluations for patients at risk of depression and suicidal tendencies.

Reference:

Wang, S.-T., He, X.-Y., Le, J., Sun, T., & Peng, R. (2024). Associations Between Vitamin K and Suicide Attempts in Patients with Depression: A Case-Control Study. In Journal of Inflammation Research: Vol. Volume 17 (pp. 3423–3431). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.2147/jir.s463204