VITAL-DEP: Depression Endpoint Prevention in the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL
NCT ID: NCT01696435
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
Study Results
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View full resultsBasic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
18353 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2010-07-31
2025-03-31
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Eligible participants will be assigned by chance (like a coin toss) to one of four groups: (1) daily vitamin D3 and omega-3; (2) daily vitamin D3 and omega-3 placebo; (3) daily vitamin D placebo and omega-3; or (4) daily vitamin D placebo and omega-3 placebo. Participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any of these four groups and a 3 out of 4 chance of getting at least one active agent.
Participants in all groups will take two pills each day -- one softgel that contains either vitamin D3 or vitamin D placebo and one capsule that contains either omega-3 or omega-3 placebo. Participants will receive their study pills in convenient calendar packages via U.S. mail.
Participants will also fill out a short (15-20 minute) questionnaire each year. The questionnaire asks about health; lifestyle habits such as physical exercise, diet, and smoking; use of medications and dietary supplements; family history of illness, and new medical diagnoses. The questionnaire also includes specific questions pertaining to mood. Occasionally, participants may receive a phone call from study staff to collect information or to clarify responses on the questionnaire.
Primary aims of 1) reduction in risk of clinical depressive syndrome and 2) yielding of better mood scores over time will be address in the full VITAL cohort of 20,000. Secondary aims will be addressed in sub-set of participants. The secondary aims will address whether: 1) among a subset of 1,000 participants evaluated at a Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), the agents reduce risk of depression and yield better mood scores among persons with known risk factors for late-life depression; 2) among a subset of 1,000 participants evaluated at a CTSC, the agents reduce risk of major depression and yield better mood scores among persons with sub-syndromal depressive symptoms; 3) among all VITAL participants, African-American race (African-Americans have high risk of Vitamin D deficiency) modifies effects of vitamin D3 supplementation on late-life depression risk and on mood scores; 4) among a subset of participants, baseline plasma levels of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are related to depression risk and/or modify agent effects.
Thus, VITAL-DEP will address simultaneously the impact of both vitamin D and fish oil for universal, selective and indicated prevention of late-life depression.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
FACTORIAL
PREVENTION
TRIPLE
Study Groups
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Vitamin D + fish oil placebo
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 2000 IU per day
Fish oil placebo
vitamin D3
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 2000 IU per day
Fish oil placebo
Fish oil placebo
Vitamin D placebo + fish oil
Vitamin D placebo
Omacor, 1 capsule per day. Each capsule of Omacor contains 840 milligrams of marine omega-3 fatty acids (465 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid \[EPA\] and 375 mg of docosahexaenoic acid \[DHA\])
omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)
Omacor, 1 capsule per day. Each capsule of Omacor contains 840 milligrams of marine omega-3 fatty acids (465 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid \[EPA\] and 375 mg of docosahexaenoic acid \[DHA\]).
Vitamin D placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Vitamin D placebo + fish oil placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Fish oil placebo
Fish oil placebo
Fish oil placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Vitamin D + fish oil
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 2000 IU per day
Omacor, 1 capsule per day. Each capsule of Omacor contains 840 milligrams of marine omega-3 fatty acids (465 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid \[EPA\] and 375 mg of docosahexaenoic acid \[DHA\])
vitamin D3
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 2000 IU per day
omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)
Omacor, 1 capsule per day. Each capsule of Omacor contains 840 milligrams of marine omega-3 fatty acids (465 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid \[EPA\] and 375 mg of docosahexaenoic acid \[DHA\]).
Interventions
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vitamin D3
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 2000 IU per day
omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)
Omacor, 1 capsule per day. Each capsule of Omacor contains 840 milligrams of marine omega-3 fatty acids (465 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid \[EPA\] and 375 mg of docosahexaenoic acid \[DHA\]).
Fish oil placebo
Fish oil placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Vitamin D placebo
Other Intervention Names
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* no core major depressive disorder symptoms for a period of two or more weeks in the past two years
* no history of alcohol and/or substance abuse disorder active in the past 12 months, schizophrenia or other primary psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder
* no current psychotherapy or current use of psychotropics (including non-prescription agents for the treatment of mood disorders), except for limited use of mild sedatives/hypnotics
* no history of major neurologic disorder or delirium episode in the past 12 months
* no history of clinical (i.e., overt and not sub-clinical) hypothyroidism diagnosis
50 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
NIH
Brigham and Women's Hospital
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Olivia Okereke
Olivia I. Okereke, MD, SM, Principal Investigator, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Principal Investigators
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Olivia I Okereke, MD, SM
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Locations
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Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Countries
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References
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Vyas CM, Kang JH, Mischoulon D, Cook NR, Reynolds Iii CF, Chang G, Mora S, De Vivo I, Manson JE, Okereke OI. Apolipoprotein E and Its Association With Cognitive Change and Modification of Treatment Effects of Vitamin D3 and Omega-3s on Cognitive Change: Results From the In-Clinic Subset of a Randomized Clinical Trial. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2024 Mar 1;79(3):glad260. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glad260.
Vyas CM, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Cook NR, Weinberg A, Copeland T, Kang JH, Bubes V, Friedenberg G, LeBoff MS, Lee IM, Buring JE, Manson JE, Reynolds CF, Okereke OI. Effects of Vitamin D3 and Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation on Indicated and Selective Prevention of Depression in Older Adults: Results From the Clinical Center Sub-Cohort of the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL). J Clin Psychiatry. 2023 Jun 26;84(4):22m14629. doi: 10.4088/JCP.22m14629.
Vyas CM, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Reynolds CF 3rd, Cook NR, Weinberg A, Copeland T, Bubes V, Bradwin G, Lee IM, Buring JE, Mora S, Rifai N, Manson JE, Okereke OI. Relation of serum BDNF to major depression and exploration of mechanistic roles of serum BDNF in a study of vitamin D3 and omega-3 supplements for late-life depression prevention. J Psychiatr Res. 2023 Jul;163:357-364. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.05.069. Epub 2023 May 26.
Vyas CM, Sadreyev RI, Gatchel JR, Kang JH, Reynolds CF, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Hazra A, Manson JE, Blacker D, De Vivo I, Okereke OI. Pilot Study of Second-Generation DNA Methylation Epigenetic Markers in Relation to Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Older Adults. J Alzheimers Dis. 2023;93(4):1563-1575. doi: 10.3233/JAD-230093.
Okereke OI, Vyas CM, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Cook NR, Weinberg A, Bubes V, Copeland T, Friedenberg G, Lee IM, Buring JE, Reynolds CF 3rd, Manson JE. Effect of Long-term Supplementation With Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acids vs Placebo on Risk of Depression or Clinically Relevant Depressive Symptoms and on Change in Mood Scores: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2021 Dec 21;326(23):2385-2394. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.21187.
Kang JH, Vyas CM, Okereke OI, Ogata S, Albert M, Lee IM, D'Agostino D, Buring JE, Cook NR, Grodstein F, Manson JE. Effect of vitamin D on cognitive decline: results from two ancillary studies of the VITAL randomized trial. Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 1;11(1):23253. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02485-8.
Okereke OI, Reynolds CF 3rd, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Vyas CM, Cook NR, Weinberg A, Bubes V, Copeland T, Friedenberg G, Lee IM, Buring JE, Manson JE. Effect of Long-term Vitamin D3 Supplementation vs Placebo on Risk of Depression or Clinically Relevant Depressive Symptoms and on Change in Mood Scores: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2020 Aug 4;324(5):471-480. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.10224.
Donneyong M, Reynolds C, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Luttmann-Gibson H, Bubes V, Guilds M, Manson J, Okereke O. Protocol for studying racial/ethnic disparities in depression care using joint information from participant surveys and administrative claims databases: an observational cohort study. BMJ Open. 2020 Jan 7;10(1):e033173. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033173.
Okereke OI, Reynolds CF 3rd, Mischoulon D, Chang G, Cook NR, Copeland T, Friedenberg G, Buring JE, Manson JE. The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL-Depression Endpoint Prevention (VITAL-DEP): Rationale and design of a large-scale ancillary study evaluating vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acid supplements for prevention of late-life depression. Contemp Clin Trials. 2018 May;68:133-145. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2018.02.017. Epub 2018 Mar 8.
Provided Documents
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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan
Related Links
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Welcome to the VITAL study website
Other Identifiers
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