Centre for Policy on Ageing



Predictive value of folate, vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels in late-life depression
Author(s)	Jae-Min Kim, Robert Stewart, Sung-Wan Kim
Journal title	British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 192, April 2008
Pages	pp 268-274
Source	http://bjp.rcpsych.org
Keywords	Vitamins ; Depression ; Cross sectional surveys.
Annotation	The role of folate, vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels in depression is not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate cross-sectional and prospective associations between these three and late-life depression. A total of 732 Korean people aged 65 years or over were evaluated at baseline. Of the 631 persons who were not depressed, 521 (83%) were followed over a period of 2-3 years, and incident depression was ascertained with the Geriatric Mental State schedule (GMS). Serum folate, serum vitamin B12 and plasma homocysteine levels were assayed at both baseline and follow-up. Lower levels of folate and vitamin B12 and higher homocysteine levels at baseline were associated with a higher risk of incident depression at follow-up. Incident depression was associated with a decline in vitamin B12 and an increase in homocysteine levels over the follow-up period. Lower folate, lower vitamin B12 and raised homocysteine levels may be risk factors for late-life depression. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-080409203 A
Classmark	CFE: ENR: 3KB
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.