Association between vitamin A intake and depression among patients with heart failure

We aim to investigate the association between vitamin A intake and depression among patients with heart failure (HF).

In this cross-sectional study, data of HF patients were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2020. The independent variable was vitamin A intake, and the dependent variable was depression. Weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were performed to explore the association of vitamin A intake with depression in HF patients. A total of 999 HF patients were included, with a mean age of 66.19 (0.51) years, and 566 (52.49%) were male. And 197 patients have depression. Vitamin A intake ≥731.38 mcg was associated with lower incidence of depression [odds ratio (OR) = 0.37; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.18-0.76] in HF patients. Similarly, the relationship between high vitamin A intake and lower odds of depression were also observed in subgroups of those aged >65 years (OR = 0.16; 95% CI: 0.04-0.55), males (OR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.14-0.86), without hypertension (OR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.11-0.58), without diabetes (OR = 0.30; 95% CI: 0.11-0.78), with hyperlipidaemia (OR = 0.23; 95% CI: 0.09-0.64), and with chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.13-0.80).

High vitamin A intake was associated with lower odds of depression in HF patients. Appropriate vitamin A supplementation may have potential benefit to the prevention of depression in HF patients. Additional prospective large-scale studies are required to confirm whether or not vitamin A could lead to decrease in depression symptoms.