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VIDEO: VITAL-DEP study to assess vitamin D, fish oil for depression, mood in older adults

ATLANTA — Olivia Okereke, MD, SM, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, outlines a study examining the efficacy of vitamin D and fish oil for depression and mood in older adults.

VITAL-DEP is the depression prevention endpoint of the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL which has a follow-up cohort of approximately 26,000 individuals.

While the primary study’s objective is to assess the effects of vitamin D and fish oil on cancer and heart disease risk, VITAL-DEP investigates the agents’ ability to prevent depression and improve mood among older adults.

“With VITAL-DEP we have a wonderful opportunity to do universal, selective and indicated prevention within a single study design,” Okereke told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “We not only hope that these agents will ultimately turn out to benefit mood in older adults by reducing rates of depression and yielding better mood but we also hope that this study will be an engine for exciting research in older adults and their mental health, particularly toward biology and race/ethnic differences, for years to come.”