The role of vitamin d deficiency towards cognitive deficit of schizophrenia

Background: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) discovery in the brain tissue demonstrates clearly that vitamin D has a significant role in the development of the brain. This study aimed to analyze the correlation between serum vitamin D levels and cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients. Methods: This was an observational analytic study with cross-sectional design. Serum vitamin D levels were measured using VIDAS® 25 OH Vitamin D Total (VITD). Cognitive deficits were measured using Indonesian version of the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (ScoRSvI). Results: This study recruited 54 patients from outpatient and inpatient unit of psychiatric. Most of subjects were male as many as 25 (65.8%). Mean age of subjects was 34.84 years. Mean duration of illness was 10.58±7.4 years. There were 17 (45%) subjects experienced serum vitamin D deficiency, and 22 (58%) study subjects had cognitive deficits on the global impression of ScoRSvI assessment by rater. There was a significant negative correlation (p <0.001) between serum vitamin D levels and SCoRSvI values from the impression of global observations, ScoRSvI patients, and ScoRSvI informants. Conclusion: The lower serum vitamin D levels, the higher score of cognitive deficits from SCoRSvI. The higher SCoRSvI score shows the more severe cognitive deficit for patients with schizophrenia.