Vitamin D status of psychiatric inpatients at a community teaching hospital in the Midwest
Sammanfattning
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a re-emerging epidemic in North America. It is increasingly
linked to the pathology of cognition and mental illness and is also common in psychiatric patients.
Aims: This study was designed to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among
psychiatric inpatients in Kansas City, to explore the association between vitamin D status and
clinical characteristics, and to identify the association of medical problems related to vitamin D
deficiency in mental illness. Methods: In this descriptive study we recruited 52 psychiatric inpatients
at a community teaching hospital in Kansas City between August and November 2013. A vitamin D-
deficient state was defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-(OH) D) leve = 20 ng/mL. In addition to
descriptive statistics, the Student t-test and Pearson test were used in the study. Results: A total of
15 patients (28.8%) were classified as deficient, 20 patients (38.5%) had an insufficiency, 17 patients
(32.7%) were categorized as sufficient. Interestingly, there was a statistically significant difference in
25-(OH) D levels between African Americans and Caucasians (t = -2.216, p = 0.03) but no significant
relationship between 25-(OH) D level and gender, major psychiatric diagnoses, type 2 diabetes
mellitus or obesity. There was also no correlation between 25-(OH) D level and age, body mass index
or haemoglobin A1C. Conclusions: Low 25-(OH) D level was found in a high percentage of psychiatric
inpatients in Kansas City. Screening for vitamin D deficiency could be a routine work-up for
psychiatric inpatients. Vitamin D supplement for African American inpatients with low vitamin D levels
could be considered.