Serum vitamin D deficiency and risk of schizophrenia: a case control study

Background: Schizophrenia is a mental illness with symptoms like delusions and hallucinations. A recent study concluded that individuals with vitamin D deficiency are twice more likely to have schizophrenia than optimum level vitamin D people

Objective: To measure schizophrenic patients` serum vitamin D concentration and compare it to healthy controls[non schizophrenics], and to investigate the relationship between serum schizophrenia and related potential risk factors

Subjects and Methods: Twenty patients with schizophrenia were recruited and compared to 20 controls with no major psychopathology using age and sex matched case control study. The SCID-1[semi-structured interview for making major DSM-IV Axis 1 diagnoses], was administered and the blood samples were withdrawn after patient consent on the same day

Results: Schizophrenic patients showed a significantly lower mean vitamin D level [14.8 +/- 4.5 IU] compared to control group [19.6 +/- 3.3 IU] [P<0.001]. Higher vitamin D level participants were nearly 80% less likely to have schizophrenia compared to low level ones. Being older and female were 80%and 40% less likely to have schizophrenia respectively. Individuals with large body mass index were 1.2 times more likely to have schizophrenia compared to normal body weight. Smokers were 10% less likely to be schizophrenic compared to non-smoker participants

Conclusions: Patients with schizophrenia showed lower serum vitamin D level compared to healthy controls. Further studies are needed to explore the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia

Measurement psychiatric stigma in a general hospital in Saudi Arabia

The aim of this study is to measure the stigma of psychiatric illness in a general hospital setting, and to test the connection between common ideas people have of patients with psychiatric illness [personal responsibility, and dangerousness], and the generation of discriminatory behavior. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in all the hospital staff of king Abdulaziz Hospital in Al-Ashsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Questionnaire was distributed on the 1[st] of February, and the study was finished on the 12[th] of March 2008. The sample size of 860 staff members was included for the study. Hospital staff had high scores [6.8/9] for caring attitude for patients with psychiatric illness. They had medium scores for fear [4/9], avoidance [4.8/9], and dangerousness [4.3/9]. They had low scores [3.1/9] for anger feelings toward these patients. Discriminatory behavior was found to be the result of feeling that these patients are dangerous, but not because they were held responsible for their illness. Our staff had a caring attitude towards patients with psychiatric illness. The idea that the patients with psychiatric illness are to blame for their illness did not hold, while the idea that these patients are dangerous showed positive relationship with discriminatory behavior