Mental patients – 4 in 6 had under 12 ng of vitamin D, only 1 in 6 had over 20 ng – May 2017

Vitamin D Deficiency and Associated Factors in Patients with Mental Disorders Treated in Routine Practice.

J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2017;63(2):85-95. doi: 10.3177/jnsv.63.85.
Ristic S1, Zivanovic S2, Milovanovic DR3, Janjic V4, Djokovic D4, Jovicevic A1, Pirkovic MS5, Kocic S6.


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This research aimed to investigate factors associated with vitamin D deficiency and to provide data about its prevalence in patients suffering from different psychiatric illnesses. The study had a cross-sectional design and it included 220 patients of both genders, aged from 19-81 y, with a wide range of mental disorders (F00-F89), and treated in routine ambulatory and hospital practice. The researchers collected data from three sources: medical records, a study questionnaire and biochemical analysis of patients' serum samples (concentration of vitamin D measured as 25(OH)D, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, methods for hypothesis testing and binary logistic regression, at the p≤0.05 level.
A total of

  • 140 patients (64%) had a deficiency of vitamin D (<12 ng/mL), and
  • 45 (20%) had inadequate vitamin D serum levels (12-20 ng/mL), while
  • 35 (16%) had sufficient vitamin D serum concentrations (>20 ng/mL).

Among variables related to demographics, life style habits, mental illness, comorbid disorders and drugs, two of them,

  • female gender (odds ratio (OR)=2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.3-4.9, p=0.006) and
  • using clozapine (OR=15.6, 95% CI 1.7-144.7, p=0.02),

were significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency. Physical activity (OR= 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.9, p=0.02), exercising (OR=0.2, 95% CI <0.1-0.7, p=0.02) and offal in the diet (OR=0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9, p=0.03) significantly aggregated in the patients who had a 25(OH)D serum concentration above the deficiency cut-off level.

Patients with mental disorders are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency, particularly females and clozapine users as well as those having no adequate physical activity or dietary habits.

PMID: 28552881 DOI: 10.3177/jnsv.63.85


Mental ICD codes - Wikipedia

(F00–F09) Organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders
(F10–F19) Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use
(F20–F29) Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (37% in study)
(F30–F39) Mood (affective) disorders (53% in study)
(F40–F48) Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders
(F50–F59) Behavioural syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors
(F60–F69) Disorders of adult personality and behaviour (big difference vs Vita D)
(F70–F79) Mental retardation (big difference vs Vita D)
(F80–F89) Disorders of psychological development
(F90–F98) Behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence
(F99) Unspecified mental disorder


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