Serum Vitamin D Level in Depressed Egyptian Patients: Relation to Severity

Abstract

SUMMARY D epression is a common mental disorder characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness and poor concentration. It can be long lasting or recurrent, substantially impairing a person’s ability to function at work or school, or cope with daily life. Depression occurs in persons of all ages and backgrounds and both sexes and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Depression affects overall health-related quality of life to an equal or greater degree than other chronic medical conditions. It is predicted that depressive disorders will become the first leading cause of disease burden by 2015. Depression often starts at a young age. It affects women more often than men, and unemployed people are also at high risk. Depression is considered a chronic or recurrent condition. The lowest rates of depression are reported in Asian and Southeast Asian countries. For example, Taiwan reports less than 2 %, and Korea 3%. Western countries typically report higher rates, such as Canada 7%, New Zealand 11%, and France 16%. The United States has a rate of about 6 %. Also countries plagued by protracted civil war, such as Bosnia and Northern Ireland report higher rates of depression. Low rates of depression in Eastern countries such as Taiwan may correspond with low rates of divorce and separation. Depression in a sample of Egyptian secondary school female students was estimated to be 15.3%.The prevalence rates of depression among selected samples from an urban and a rural population in Egypt was found to be 11.4% and 19.7%, respectively. Dysthymic disorder was the most common diagnostic category in the urban population (4.1%), whereas adjustment disorder with depressed mood was more frequently encountered in the rural population (6.7%). Major affective disorder according to DSM–III criteria was diagnosed in 1.9% of the urban population compared with 3.3% of the rural population; the total prevalence was 2, 5 %.