Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of hormone therapy and calcitriol on depression in older postmenopausal women and to determine whether the response was associated with polymorphisms of estrogen receptor α and vitamin D receptor.
Methods: In a double-blind placebo-controlled prospective trial involving 489 postmenopausal older women, a secondary analysis of depression was done. The Geriatric Depression Scale was used to screen for depression. We used binary logistic regression to examine the effect of treatment on depression and one-way analysis of variance to find a relationship between gene polymorphisms and depression.
Results: There was no effect of hormone therapy (odds ratio [OR], 1.65; 95% CI, 0.66-4.12; P = 0.277), calcitriol (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.43-3.11; P = 0.772), or hormone therapy with calcitriol (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.36-2.80; P = 0.979) on depression. Neither the polymorphisms of estrogen receptor α (XbaI-β = 0.093; CI, -0.337 to 1.350; P = 0.239 and PvuII-β = -0.064; CI, -1.171 to 0.491, P = 0.421) nor those of vitamin D receptor (BsmI-β = 0.044, CI -2.546 to 3.030, P = 0.865 and TaqI-β = -0.015, CI -2.900 to 2.738, P = 0.955) were associated with depression.
Conclusion: In older postmenopausal women, there was no effect of hormone therapy and calcitriol either individually or in combination with depression. Estrogen receptor α and vitamin D receptor polymorphisms are not associated with depression or the response to intervention in older postmenopausal women. Additional trials are required to confirm these findings.