Vitamin D Supplementation and Psychosis

People with psychosis may not have any improvement in symptoms with vitamin D supplementation as per a study — The DFEND Trial at the King's College London, published in JAMA Psychiatry. The study analyzed 149 participants who had no evidence of improvement in either mental or physical health symptoms even after taking vitamin D supplementation over six months in people with psychosis.

However, these participants had shown high rates of vitamin D deficiency, which could have long-term health impacts not captured in the study, according to researchers.

Almost 74.6% of participants had insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels, with that figure rising to 93.4% among ethnic minority participants.

“These very high rates of vitamin deficiency and insufficiency may have longer-term negative health impacts which we have not measured, so raising awareness of the need to optimise vitamin D in people with psychosis is important. Future public health strategies should acknowledge the high risk of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in people with psychosis and consider any reasonable policy adjustments which may be needed to address this over and above general population guidance,” says the study’s lead author Professor Fiona Gaughran, Professor of Physical Health and Clinical Therapeutics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, and Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Psychosis Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Source-Medindia