Zhang Mini, Cheng Keith, Rope Robert, Martin Elizabeth, Jetmalani Ajit
Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR, 97239, USA.
Department of Internal Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR, 97239, USA.
F1000Res. 2013 Jul 17;2:159. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.2-159.v1. eCollection 2013.
Inadequate vitamin D level is associated with various adverse medical outcomes. There is a growing concern that insufficient vitamin D may play a role in the development of psychiatric symptoms. This study aims to answer the question: do children with mental disorders have a higher prevalence of hypovitaminosis D? A retrospective chart review examined 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels in youth ages 7 to 17 (n=67) at two Oregon psychiatric residential facilities. Vitamin D deficiency is defined as <20 ng/ml and insufficiency as <30 ng/ml. Diagnoses were organized into six categories. 25(OH)D levels were compared across genders and diagnostic groups using a two-sample t-test and ANOVA, respectively. Statistical differences in prevalence across diagnostic categories were calculated using a Pearson chi-square test. Using the data from Saintonge's NHANES III study on healthy US children for comparison, 21% of our cohorts were found to be vitamin D deficient and 64% insufficient, in contrast to 14% and 48%, respectively. While our results are not statistically significant, mainly because of small sample size, the overall mean 25(OH)D level in our cohort was insufficient (27.59 ± 9.35 ng/ml), compared to a sufficient mean value of 32.1 ng/ml in the general population. No statistical significant difference was found in the prevalence across diagnostic categories. This study found that children with psychiatric disorders might have a higher prevalence of hypovitaminosis D than the general pediatric population. Although a causal relationship between hypovitaminosis D and psychiatric disorders cannot be derived based on the study design, our study provides initial descriptive data on the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in children with psychiatric disorders, which has not been previously reported to our knowledge. Prospective studies with a larger sample size and controlled variables would allow more precise analysis of the relationship between hypovitaminosis D and childhood mental disorders.
维生素D水平不足与多种不良医学后果相关。人们越来越担心维生素D不足可能在精神症状的发展中起作用。本研究旨在回答以下问题：患有精神障碍的儿童维生素D缺乏症的患病率是否更高？一项回顾性病历审查研究了俄勒冈州两家精神病住院机构中7至17岁青少年（n = 67）的25羟维生素D（25(OH)D）水平。维生素D缺乏定义为<20 ng/ml，不足定义为<30 ng/ml。诊断分为六类。分别使用两样本t检验和方差分析比较不同性别和诊断组之间的25(OH)D水平。使用Pearson卡方检验计算不同诊断类别患病率的统计学差异。与圣通格的美国国家健康和营养检查调查（NHANES）III中关于美国健康儿童的研究数据相比，我们队列中有21%被发现维生素D缺乏，64%不足，而在该研究中这两个比例分别为14%和48%。虽然我们的结果没有统计学意义，主要是因为样本量小，但我们队列中的总体平均25(OH)D水平不足（27.59±9.35 ng/ml），而一般人群的充足平均值为32.1 ng/ml。不同诊断类别之间的患病率没有发现统计学显著差异。本研究发现，患有精神障碍的儿童维生素D缺乏症的患病率可能高于一般儿科人群。尽管基于本研究设计无法得出维生素D缺乏与精神障碍之间的因果关系，但我们的研究提供了关于患有精神障碍儿童维生素D缺乏症患病率的初步描述性数据，据我们所知，此前尚未有过相关报道。进行样本量更大且变量可控的前瞻性研究将能够更精确地分析维生素D缺乏与儿童精神障碍之间的关系。
