Vitamin D serum level and its correlation with Major Depressive Disorder and Schizophrenia

Background: Low serum vitamin D has been linked to various psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia. Objective: We aimed to investigate vitamin D levels and associated factors in schizophrenia, and MDD. Methods: We studied 60 participants collected from outpatient clinics of the Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. The final sample was divided into three groups: schizophrenia (n=20), MDD (n=20) and healthy controls (n=20). Ain Shams university data sheet was used to gather demographic data, Structured Clinical interview (SCID-I), and laboratory vitamin D serum levels (ELISA) were applied to the study subjects.Results: Eighty-five (85%) of patients with MDD and eighty (80%) of patients with schizophrenia had below normal vitamin D serum level. Compared to controls; serum vitamin D concentration in patients with MDD was statistically significantly lower than controls (p < 0.05), while schizophrenia had vitamin D level lower than did control group but higher level than patients with MDD. However, vitamin D level failed to differentiate between patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and those with MDD. Future studies are warranted to elucidate the role of vitamin D in different psychiatric illnessesConclusions: Our study demonstrated that vitamin D in both MDD and schizophrenia groups is low when compared to control group. However, we did not find any significant difference in vitamin D status between both patients groups, schizophrenia and depression