A study published Monday in Scientific Reports found that having depression and not enough vitamin D increased the prevalence of having disabilities with activities of daily life by 2.2 times compared to those with sufficient levels of vitamin D and no depressive symptoms.
Having depressive symptoms was associated with a 49% increase in the prevalence of difficulty completing instrumental activities of daily living, which are more complex activities of daily living. Having insufficient vitamin D alone was not linked with experiencing problems with instrumental activities of daily living.
The researchers looked at Instrumental activities of daily living and activities of daily living. Instrumental activities of daily living (using public transportation, managing finances and being able to manage medication independently) are more complex than activities of daily living (bathing, dressing and being able to go to the bathroom independently). When a person can’t complete those tasks on their own, it shows a loss of function and increases their care needs.
The study focused on 1,781 community-dwelling older adults over the age of 50 as part of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging dataset. Data was collected between 2015 and 2016. Of the participants, 14.6% had disability in activities of daily living and 47.9% in instrumental activities of daily living; 59.7% had vitamin D insufficient levels and 33.2% experienced depressive symptoms.
The people were placed in four groups: those with sufficient vitamin D and no depressive symptoms, those with sufficient vitamin D and depressive symptoms, those with vitamin D insufficiency and no depressive symptoms, and those with vitamin D insufficiency and depressive symptoms.
The authors said that preventive ways to keep older adults active physically and socially, and keeping levels of vitamin D optimal, are important to prevent depression and functional disability.
“The key findings of the present study showed that vitamin D insufficiency and, mainly, the concomitant presence of depressive symptoms increase the prevalence of functional disability, thus compromising the performance of both activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living,” the authors wrote.
