Serum Level Of Homocysteine In Patients With Schizophrenia

Background Schizophrenia is a relatively common, chronic, and frequently devastating neuropsychiatric disorder, affecting about one percent of the world's population with similar prevalence throughout divers cultures and geographic areas. World Health Organization discovers that schizophrenia is the fourth cause of the disabled in the world. Although the hypotheses of the etiology of schizophrenia are numerous, none of them can be verified or explain all the pathological aspects of schizophrenia yet.Objective To investigate the association between homocysteine and schizophrenia. Method The case-control study design was used in this study and 45 patients with schizophrenia and 45 health normal controls were collected serum level of homocysteine by fluorescence polarization immunoassay(FPIA), in patient group before and after treatment. 45 schizophrenic patients were randomized into chlorpromazine group (n=23) and clozapine group (n=22) . The effect of patients in two groups was evaluated before the treatment and eight weeks after treatment with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale ( PANSS). Results Hcy concentration were obviously higher in patient group than those in control group [(17.29±5.64)μmol/L vs (12.01±3.64)μmol/L, P=0.000], and meanwhile, there was a significantly higher incidence of hyperhomocysteinemia(HHcy) in patient group than those in controlgroup(42.2% vs 8.9%, Odds Ratio, 7.5; 95% confidence interval, 2.3 — 24.5.P=0.000). Moreover, Hey concentration was significantly lower in positive subgroup compared with negative subgroup [(15.57±4.94)ujnol/L vs (20.41 ± 5.63)umol/L, P =0.005] and the subgroup with high P subscore compared with the subgroup with low P subscore [(15.10±5.06)nmol/L vs (19.05±5.56)uinol/L, P =0.018]. In addition ,Hcy concentration negatively correlated with scores for positive symptoms ( r =-0.374, P=0.011),and positively correlated with scores for negative symptoms( r =0.297, P=0.047). After treatment, patients with schizophrenia had lower level of homocysteine than before. Conclusion It is suggested that elevated levels of homocysteine in patients with schizophrenia could be related to the pathogenic mechanism of this illness. Antipsychotics have some influence on serum level of homocysteine.