Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Depression and one carbon metabolic pathway: A study among a mendelian population from North India

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Depression is multi-factorial in origin and results from intricate mechanisms with no single identifiable risk factor. The present study is a cross-sectional study, conducted among 808 participants aged 30–70 years from a single mendelian, largely vegetarian population from North India. Socio- demographic and depression status were assessed through standard interview schedule among recruited individuals. Chemi- luminescence Immunoassay technique by Immulite®1000 is used to analyse homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 levels. Of the total studied subjects, 31.1% were found to be having depression with higher rate among females (35.7%) compared to males (24.6%) (p = 0.002). Hyperhomocysteinemia and folate deficiency were found to pose an increased risk for moderate/ severe depression, though not significant. Folate repletion was playing a compensatory role for vitamin B12 deficiency among depressed individuals. MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism was not associated with depression in the present study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck depression inventory-II. San Antonio, 78(2), 490–498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjelland, I., Tell, G. S., Vollset, S. E., Refsum, H., & Ueland, P. M. (2003). Folate, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and the MTHFR 677C→ T polymorphism in anxiety and depression: The Hordaland homocysteine study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60(6), 618–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bottiglieri, T. (1997). Ademetionine (S-adenosylmethionine) neuropharmacology: Implications for drug therapies in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, 6(4), 417–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Census of India. (2011). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. India: http://censusindia.gov.in/. Accessed 19 September 2018.

  • Charlson, F. J., Baxter, A. J., Cheng, H. G., Shidhaye, R., & Whiteford, H. A. (2016). The burden of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders in China and India: A systematic analysis of community representative epidemiological studies. The Lancet, 388(10042), 376–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chojnicka, I., Sobczyk-Kopcioł, A., Fudalej, M., Fudalej, S., Wojnar, M., Waśkiewicz, A., Broda, G., Strawa, K., Pawlak, A., Krajewski, P., & Płoski, R. (2012). No association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and completed suicide. Gene, 511(1), 118–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coppen, A., & Bolander-Gouaille, C. (2005). Treatment of depression: Time to consider folic acid and vitamin B12. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 19(1), 59–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fava, M., Borus, J. S., Alpert, J. E., & Nierenberg, A. A. (1997). Folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine in major depressive disorder. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 154(3), 426–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frosst, P., Blom, H. J., Milos, R., Goyette, P., Sheppard, C. A., Matthews, R. G., Boers, G. J. H., den Heijer, M., Kluijtmans, L. A. J., van den Heuve, L. P., & Rozen, R. (1995). A candidate genetic risk factor for vascular disease: A common mutation in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase. Nature Genetics, 10(1), 111–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ganguli, H. C. (2000). Epidemiological findings on prevalence of mental disorders in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 42(1), 14–20.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gatt, J. M., Burton, K. L., Williams, L. M., & Schofield, P. R. (2015). Specific and common genes implicated across major mental disorders: A review of meta-analysis studies. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 60, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gururaj, G., Varghese, M., Benegal, V., Rao, G. N., Pathak, K., Singh, L. K., & Misra, R. (2016). National mental health survey of India, 2015–16: Summary. Bengaluru: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaur, G., Gaur, R., Yadav, S., & Saraswathy, K. N. (2018). Association of vitamin B12 mediated hyperhomocysteinemia and Methylenetetrafolate reductase (C677T) gene polymorphism with cognitive impairment: A population based study from North India. Psychiatry Research, 270, 123–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., & Bromet, E. J. (2013). The epidemiology of depression across cultures. Annual Review of Public Health, 34, 119–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S. A., Dykes, D. D., & Polesky, H. F. R. N. (1988). A simple salting out procedure for extracting DNA from human nucleated cells. Nucleic Acids Research, 16(3), 1215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mujawar, S. A., Patil, V. W., & Daver, R. G. (2011). Study of serum homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B 12 in patients with preeclampsia. Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry, 26(3), 257–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narayan, S. K., Verman, A., Kattimani, S., Ananthanarayanan, P. H., & Adithan, C. (2014). Plasma homocysteine levels in depression and schizophrenia in south Indian Tamilian population. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(1), 46–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajagopalan, P., Jahanshad, N., Stein, J. L., Hua, X., Madsen, S. K., Kohannim, O., et al. (2012). Common folate gene variant, MTHFR C677T, is associated with brain structure in two independent cohorts of people with mild cognitive impairment. NeuroImage: Clinical, 1(1), 179–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saraswathy, K. N., Asghar, M., Samtani, R., Murry, B., Mondal, P. R., Ghosh, P. K., & Sachdeva, M. P. (2012). Spectrum of MTHFR gene SNPs C677T and A1298C: A study among 23 population groups of India. Molecular Biology Reports, 39(4), 5025–5031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sukla, K. K., & Raman, R. (2012). Association of MTHFR and RFC1 gene polymorphism with hyperhomocysteinemia and its modulation by vitamin B12 and folic acid in an Indian population. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 66(1), 111–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, P. F., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2000). Genetic epidemiology of major depression: Review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157(10), 1552–1562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiemeier, H., Van Tuijl, H. R., Hofman, A., Meijer, J., Kiliaan, A. J., & Breteler, M. M. (2002). Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in depression: The Rotterdam study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(12), 2099–2101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2017a). Depression and other common mental disorders. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2017b). Depression in India, Let’s Talk. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, S. N. (2007). Folate and depression—A neglected problem. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 32(2), 80–82.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Prof. Manju Mehta, clinical psychologist, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS) for her help in psychological analysis of the study. We are highly acknowledged to Research and Development Grant, University of Delhi, New Delhi and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India for financial assistance. We also acknowledge the cooperation of Prof. V.R.Rao and Prof P.K Ghosh as Co- investigators.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Gurjinder Kaur & Rajan Gaur

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 110007, India

    Mamta Kumari Thakur & Kallur Nava Saraswathy

Authors
  1. Gurjinder Kaur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rajan Gaur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mamta Kumari Thakur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kallur Nava Saraswathy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kallur Nava Saraswathy.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

The present stust is ethically approved by Institutional Ethics Committee, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kaur, G., Gaur, R., Thakur, M.K. et al. Depression and one carbon metabolic pathway: A study among a mendelian population from North India. Curr Psychol 40, 1280–1286 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0056-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0056-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation