Background

: Several studies have suggested an association between vegetarian diet and higher depression scores. However, some studies have also shown an effect in the opposite direction, indicating lower depression scores in vegetarians. Given this discrepancy in the literature, this meta-analysis was aimed to determine whether there is a significant association between vegetarian diet and depression scores across different published studies.

Methods

: A keyword search in major databases was conducted. Studies reporting depression scores in vegetarians and a non-vegetarian control group were included. Meta-analysis following a conditional random-effects procedure was conducted in R.

Results

: After duplicates were removed and studies were analyzed for inclusion criteria, k=13 studies with an overall n of 49889 participants (8057 vegetarians and 41832 non-vegetarian controls) were included in the analysis. Random-effects meta-analysis revealed a significant difference between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, with vegetarians showing higher depression scores than non-vegetarians.

Limitations

: The heterogeneity between studies was high and geographical variation in study location was low, limiting cross-cultural insights.

Conclusions

: Vegetarians show higher depression scores than non-vegetarians. However, due to high heterogeneity of published studies, more empirical research is needed before any final conclusions can be drawn. Also, empirical studies from a higher number of different countries would be desirable.

中文翻译：

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素食与抑郁评分：荟萃分析

背景

：几项研究表明素食与较高的抑郁症评分之间存在关联。然而，一些研究也显示了相反方向的影响，表明素食者的抑郁评分较低。鉴于文献中的这种差异，这项荟萃分析旨在确定素食饮食与不同已发表研究的抑郁评分之间是否存在显着关联。

方法

：在主要数据库中进行了关键字搜索。包括报告素食者和非素食者对照组抑郁评分的研究。在 R 中进行了条件随机效应程序之后的荟萃分析。

结果

：删除重复项并对研究进行纳入标准分析后，k=13 项研究，共有 49889 名参与者（8057 名素食者和 41832 名非素食者对照）被纳入分析。随机效应荟萃分析显示素食者和非素食者之间存在显着差异，素食者的抑郁评分高于非素食者。

限制

：研究之间的异质性很高，研究地点的地理差异很小，限制了跨文化的洞察力。

结论

：素食者的抑郁评分高于非素食者。然而，由于已发表研究的高度异质性，在得出任何最终结论之前，还需要进行更多的实证研究。此外，来自更多不同国家的实证研究也是可取的。