Vitamin D deficiency 4.7 times more likely in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder

Created September 2016

Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Adult Outpatients With Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia.

J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2016 Sep 21. [Epub ahead of print] 10.1097/JCP.0000000000000580

Boerman R1, Cohen D, Schulte PF, Nugter A.

1From the *Department of Severe Mental Illnesses, Mental Health Care Organisation Noord-Holland-Noord, Alkmaar; †Department of Severe Mental Illnesses, Mental Health Care Organisation Noord-Holland-Noord, Heerhugowaard; ‡Centre for Bipolar Disorders, Mental Health Care Organisation Noord-Holland-Noord, Alkmaar; and §Department of Research & Monitoring, Mental Health Care Organisation Noord-Holland-Noord, Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands.

* Bipolar Spectrum Disorder decreased with 2,000 IU of vitamin D - June 2015 * Bipolar Disorder may be related to cellular, not blood Vitamin D many articles * Hypothesis: Some Mental Illness could be treated or prevented with vitamin D many articles * All items in Cognitive category ** items * * Cognition and vitamin D – summary of expert opinions – July 2014 * Cognitive Impairment 2.4X more likely if low vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2012 * Omega-3 may treat schizophrenia * Schizophrenia treated by 6 months of Omega-3 – RCT Nov 2015 * "Senior moment" 25X more likely with low vitamin D - Feb 2012 * DBP-L is 8 times higher with Bipolar Disorder, but might be invisible to most tests – April 2017 Overview Schizophrenia and Vitamin D contains the following summary {include} --- 1. See also light therapy * Light Therapy Might Help People With Bipolar Depression NPR Nov 2017 * Placebo congtrolled trial. Light box in afternoon - getting up to 60 minutes * :About 3 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from the disorder." * "68 % of patients using bright white light therapy achieved remission of depression compared to 22 % of patients who received the placebo light" * Light Therapy Lamp reviews - for Seasonal Affective Disorder - 2024, 2015 --- Data from the PDF | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Psychiatric disorder | ≤12 ng | 12-20 ng | 20–30 ng | >30 ng | | Bipolar | 23% | 31% | 25% | 20% | | Schizophrenia | 35% | 31% | 22% | 12% | | Schizoaffect disorder | 34% | 36% | 23% | 8% |

OBJECTIVE:

Several studies show an association between schizophrenia and low levels of vitamin D. To date, there are only few studies about the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with bipolar disorder. We hypothesized that vitamin D deficiency is less common among patients with bipolar disorder than among patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. A second hypothesis is that vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent among patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorders than among the general Dutch population.Most studies have been conducted with hospitalized patients; in this study, we only included outpatients.

METHODS: All outpatients of a center for bipolar disorders and all outpatients of 3 flexible assertive community treatment teams were asked to participate in this cross-sectional study.

RESULTS:

We included 118 patients with bipolar disorder and 202 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Vitamin D levels were deficient in 30.3% (95% confidence interval, 25.5-35.6) of the cases. The type of psychiatric disorder was not a predictor of vitamin D deficiency. The absolute difference in risk of deficiency between the study population and the Dutch Caucasian population was 23.8% (95% confidence interval, 18.3%-29.3%).

CONCLUSIONS:

In this study, vitamin D deficiency was 4.7 times more common among outpatients with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder than among the Dutch general population. Given the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, we believe that outpatients with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder should be considered at risk of having low levels of vitamin D. Annual measurement of vitamin D levels in psychiatric outpatients with these disorders seems to be justified to maintain bone health, muscle strength, and to prevent osteoporosis.

PDF is available free at Sci-Hub  10.1097/JCP.0000000000000580

Tags: Bipolar Cognitive