Exploratory study of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation and age of onset of bipolar disorder

Michael Bauer*, Tasha Glenn, Eric D Achtyes, Martin Alda, Esen Agaoglu, Kürsat Altınbaş, Ole A Andreassen, Elias Angelopoulos, Raffaella Ardau, Memduha Aydin, Yavuz Ayhan, Christopher Baethge, Rita Bauer, Bernhard T Baune, Ceylan Balaban, Claudia Becerra-Palars, Aniruddh P Behere, Prakash B Behere, Habte Belete, Tilahun BeleteGabriel Okawa Belizario, Frank Bellivier, Robert H Belmaker, Francesco Benedetti, Michael Berk, Yuly Bersudsky, Şule Bicakci, Harriet Birabwa-Oketcho, Thomas D Bjella, Conan Brady, Jorge Cabrera, Marco Cappucciati, Angela Marianne Paredes Castro, Wei-Ling Chen, Eric Y W Cheung, Silvia Chiesa, Marie Crowe, Alessandro Cuomo, Sara Dallaspezia, Maria Del Zompo, Pratikkumar Desai, Seetal Dodd, Bruno Etain, Andrea Fagiolini, Frederike T Fellendorf, Ewa Ferensztajn-Rochowiak, Jess G Fiedorowicz, Kostas N Fountoulakis, Mark A Frye, Pierre A Geoffroy, Michael J Gitlin, Ana Gonzalez-Pinto, John F Gottlieb, Paul Grof, Bartholomeus C M Haarman, Hirohiko Harima, Mathias Hasse-Sousa, Chantal Henry, Lone Hoffding, Josselin Houenou, Massimiliano Imbesi, Erkki T Isometsä, Maja Ivkovic, Sven Janno, Simon Johnsen, Flávio Kapczinski, Gregory N Karakatsoulis, Mathias Kardell, Lars Vedel Kessing, Seong Jae Kim, Barbara König, Timur L Kot, Michael Koval, Mauricio Kunz, Beny Lafer, Mikael Landén, Erik R Larsen, Melanie Lenger, Rasmus W Licht, Carlos Lopez-Jaramillo, Alan MacKenzie, Helle Østergaard Madsen, Simone Alberte Kongstad A Madsen, Jayant Mahadevan, Agustine Mahardika, Mirko Manchia, Wendy Marsh, Monica Martinez-Cengotitabengoa, Julia Martini, Klaus Martiny, Yuki Mashima, Declan M McLoughlin, Ybe Meesters, Ingrid Melle, Fátima Meza-Urzúa, Pavol Mikolas, Yee Ming Mok, Scott Monteith, Muthukumaran Moorthy, Gunnar Morken, Enrica Mosca, Anton A Mozzhegorov, Rodrigo Munoz, Starlin V Mythri, Fethi Nacef, Ravi K Nadella, Takako Nakanotani, René Ernst Nielsen, Claire O'Donovan, Adel Omrani, Yamima Osher, Uta Ouali, Maja Pantovic-Stefanovic, Pornjira Pariwatcharakul, Joanne Petite, Johannes Petzold, Andrea Pfennig, Yolanda Pica Ruiz, Marco Pinna, Maurizio Pompili, Richard J Porter, Danilo Quiroz, Francisco Diego Rabelo-da-Ponte, Raj Ramesar, Natalie Rasgon, Woraphat Ratta-Apha, Michaela Ratzenhofer, Maria Redahan, M S Reddy, Andreas Reif, Eva Z Reininghaus, Jenny Gringer Richards, Philipp Ritter, Janusz K Rybakowski, Leela Sathyaputri, Angela M Scippa, Christian Simhandl, Daniel Smith, José Smith, Paul W Stackhouse, Dan J Stein, Kellen Stilwell, Sergio Strejilevich, Kuan-Pin Su, Mythily Subramaniam, Ahmad Hatim Sulaiman, Kirsi Suominen, Andi J Tanra, Yoshitaka Tatebayashi, Wen Lin Teh, Leonardo Tondo, Carla Torrent, Daniel Tuinstra, Takahito Uchida, Arne E Vaaler, Eduard Vieta, Biju Viswanath, Maria Yoldi-Negrete, Oguz Kaan Yalcinkaya, Allan H Young, Yosra Zgueb, Peter C Whybrow

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

BACKGROUND: Sunlight contains ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation that triggers the production of vitamin D by skin. Vitamin D has widespread effects on brain function in both developing and adult brains. However, many people live at latitudes (about > 40 N or S) that do not receive enough UVB in winter to produce vitamin D. This exploratory study investigated the association between the age of onset of bipolar I disorder and the threshold for UVB sufficient for vitamin D production in a large global sample.

METHODS: Data for 6972 patients with bipolar I disorder were obtained at 75 collection sites in 41 countries in both hemispheres. The best model to assess the relation between the threshold for UVB sufficient for vitamin D production and age of onset included 1 or more months below the threshold, family history of mood disorders, and birth cohort. All coefficients estimated at P ≤ 0.001.

RESULTS: The 6972 patients had an onset in 582 locations in 70 countries, with a mean age of onset of 25.6 years. Of the onset locations, 34.0% had at least 1 month below the threshold for UVB sufficient for vitamin D production. The age of onset at locations with 1 or more months of less than or equal to the threshold for UVB was 1.66 years younger.

CONCLUSION: UVB and vitamin D may have an important influence on the development of bipolar disorder. Study limitations included a lack of data on patient vitamin D levels, lifestyles, or supplement use. More study of the impacts of UVB and vitamin D in bipolar disorder is needed to evaluate this supposition.

Original languageEnglish
Article number22
JournalInternational Journal of Bipolar Disorders
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2023

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