Depression, Short Term Memory and Premenstrual Syndrome among Young Adults with Normal Vitamin D levels and with Hypovitaminosis D

Abstract

The objective of this study is to compare depression, short term memory and premenstrual syndrome in young adults with normal Vitamin D and with Hypovitaminosis D. The study was conducted on patients in IPD of orthopaedics department. HAMD and Digit span test were used to measure depression and short term memory respectively. For premenstrual syndrome however the questionnaire used by doctors for severity of the syndrome was used. The study was conducted on a sample of 60. These 60 subjects were further divided into two group of 30 each. Group A with normal Vitamin D levels and group B was formed of people suffering from hypovitaminosis D. The 15 females were tested on Premenstrual Syndrome. The t values for depression and short term memory have come out to be significant while t value for premenstrual syndrome came out insignificant. The results came out that subjects who suffered from hypovitaminosis D also suffered from depression and had low digit span in short term memory as well. The women who had low Vitamin D levels however did not show any symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. It can be implicated in the dietary supplementation so that depression and the deficits in short term memory can be prevented. This would not only prevent the onset of depression in the first place in many cases it will also improve the quality of life of people who suffer from low short term memory functions and other cognitive functions.