Homocysteine levels in schizophrenia patients newly admitted to an acute psychiatric ward

Abstract

Hyperhomocysteinaemia, which occurred in our schizophrenia patients with poor social and relational functioning after many years of illness, could represent an effect of altered lifestyle due to psychosis, but not a specific marker for schizophrenia.

Regulation of inflammatory pathways in schizophrenia: A comparative study with bipolar disorder and healthy controls

“…With respect to Hcy, although it has been suggested that high levels are a risk factor for SCH [33, 51–53], some studies, including our own research, find no differences between SCH patients and HC [35, 36].…”

“…For homocysteine (Hcy), an intermediate amino acid containing a sulfhydryl radical that can act as an oxidant, the results are controversial. While some studies found higher levels of this oxidative stress biomarker in several subgroups of SCH (31-33) compared with HC patients (31,34), others did not (35,36).…”

Association Between Plasma Homocysteine Levels and Cognitive Deficits in Han Chinese Patients with Schizophrenia across Age Groups

“…Additionally, a recent large-sample study including 7872 subjects evaluated the age-related differences in Hcy levels in a general Chinese population and showed that the Hcy levels rst decreased, then increased, and signi cantly increased after 50 years of age 17 , similar to the results of our study. However, some previous studies did not observe a statistically signi cant association between Hcy levels and age 18 , whereas other studies reported that plasma Hcy levels increased signi cantly with age in the general population and patients with schizophrenia 19 ; 20 . The inconsistent results for this association are unclear.…”

“…Elevated plasma Hcy levels might also contribute to cognitive de cits that are common in patients with schizophrenia, even when the analyses are corrected for the relevant covariates 7 . However, several epidemiological studies have shown that elevated Hcy levels do not appear to be correlated with cognitive de cits in patients with schizophrenia 8 . Therefore, the association between Hcy levels and cognitive de cits in patients with schizophrenia continues to be debated.…”

Homocysteine and Psychiatric Disorders

“…39,40 Regland et al 41 were the first to associate increased blood Hcy concentrations with schizophrenia in 1995. The association was latter subject of a meta-analysis in 2006 by Muntjewerff et al 42 who collected data from 8 case-control studies and demonstrated a 70% increase in the risk of schizophrenia for every 5 mM increase in Hcy concentration and many other studies since then have corroborated this hypothesis, [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] although negative results are also present in the literature. 53 Genetic factors associated with Hcy metabolism are also associated with schizophrenia risk.…”