Investigating the effect of magnesium supplement in patients with major depressive disorder under selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment

Magnesium supplementation beneficially affects depression in adults with depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Background

The findings from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) examining the effect of magnesium supplementation on depression are inconsistent. We decided to conduct a meta-analysis that summarizes all the evidence on the impact of magnesium supplementation on depression scores in adults with depressive disorder.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search in the online databases using all related keywords up to July 2023. We included all randomized clinical trials examining the effect of magnesium, in contrast to placebo, on depression scores.

Results

Finally, seven clinical trials were included in this systematic review, building up a total sample size of 325 individuals with ages ranging from 20 to 60 years on average. These RCTs resulted in eight effect sizes. Our findings from the meta-analysis showed a significant decline in depression scores due to intervention with magnesium supplements [standardized mean difference (SMD): -0.919, 95% CI: -1.443 to -0.396, p = 0.001].

Conclusion

Our review suggests that magnesium supplementation can have a beneficial effect on depression. Future high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes must be run to interpret this effect of magnesium on depression in clinical settings.

Systematic review registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=447909.

Trace Elements Levels in Major Depressive Disorder-Evaluation of Potential Threats and Possible Therapeutic Approaches

The multifactorial etiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) includes biological, environmental, genetic, and psychological aspects. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in metallomic studies in psychiatry, aiming to evaluate the role of chosen trace elements in the MDD etiology as well as the progression of symptoms. This narrative review aims to summarize the available literature on the relationship between the concentration of chosen elements in the serum of patients with MDD and the onset and progression of this psychiatric condition. The authors reviewed PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases searching for elements that had been investigated so far and further evaluated them in this paper. Ultimately, 15 elements were evaluated, namely, zinc, magnesium, selenium, iron, copper, aluminium, cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, calcium, manganese, chromium, nickel, and phosphorus. The association between metallomic studies and psychiatry has been developing dynamically recently. According to the results of current research, metallomics might act as a potential screening tool for patients with MDD while at the same time providing an assessment of the severity of symptoms. Either deficiencies or excessive amounts of chosen elements might be associated with the progression of depressive symptoms or even the onset of the disease among people predisposed to MDD.