Introduction: Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder which is characterised by impairment of thinking, perception, affect and social behaviour. It is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. The pathophysiology of schizophrenia includes dysregulation of multiple pathways. Vitamin D is implicated in neurodevelopmental origin of schizophrenia. Vitamin D level has been found to be low in patients with mental disorders including schizophrenia.

Objective: 1. To find serum Vitamin D levels in schizophrenic patients.2.To find correlation between Vitamin D level and disease severity based on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score.

Method: A Case-control study approved by Institutional Ethics Committee was conducted. The study included 30 cases of schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Result: The mean age in years were 36.1 and 35.3 in the case group and control group respectively. The mean vitamin D level in the cases was 11.01+9.99 ng/ml and in controls was 18.51+ 5.61ng/ml. This difference was highly significant (p=<0.001).There was a weak negative correlation between vitamin D level in cases and PANSS score(r= -0.28).

Conclusion: Vitamin D levels were low in schizophrenic patients as compared to controls. A weak negative correlation was found between Vitamin D level and severity of disease based on PANSS score. Larger placebo control studies needs to be done to find out potential clinical benefits of Vitamin D supplementation in these patients.

Keywords: Vitamin D, schizophrenia, PANSS score

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Shashi Prabha

Junior Resident, Department of Biochemistry, B.J. Government Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India-41100