Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) among psychiatric out-patients in Sweden: relations with season, age, ethnic origin and psychiatric diagnosis.
In a chart review at a psychiatric out-patient department, latitude 59.3 degrees N, a sample of patients with tests of serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-OHD) and plasma intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) was collected, together with demographic data and psychiatric diagnoses. During 19 months, 117 patients were included. Their median 25-OHD was 45 nmol/l; considerably lower than published reports on Swedish healthy populations. Only 14.5% had recommended levels (over 75). In 56.4%, 25-OHD was under 50 nmol/l, which is related to several unfavourable health outcomes. Seasonal variation of 25-OHD was blunted. Patients with ADHD had unexpectedly low iPTH levels. Middle East, South-East Asian or African ethnic origin, being a young male and having a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia predicted low 25-OHD levels. Hence, the diagnoses that have been hypothetically linked to developmental (prenatal) vitamin D deficiency, schizophrenia and autism, had the lowest 25-OHD levels in this adult sample, supporting the notion that vitamin D deficiency may not only be a predisposing developmental factor but also relate to the adult patients' psychiatric state. This is further supported by the considerable psychiatric improvement that coincided with vitamin D treatment in some of the patients whose deficiency was treated.
Humble
Mats B
MB
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry, St. Göran, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. mats.humble@gmail.com
Gustafsson
Sven
S
Bejerot
Susanne
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011786:Quality Control; D012621:Seasons; D013548:Sweden; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism
D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D