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Positive association between increased homocysteine and deficit syndrome in Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia: a large-scale cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Emerging studies indicate that oxidative stress may contribute to deficit syndrome (DS) in patients with schizophrenia. Homocysteine (Hcy) is a well-known marker and mediator of oxidative stress that exhibits tight associations with schizophrenia. However, no previous studies have assessed the relationship of DS with Hcy. This study evaluated the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and association of DS with Hcy in 491 patients with schizophrenia. Plasma levels of Hcy and other metabolic parameters were measured. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the proxy scale for deficit syndrome were employed to assess psychiatric symptoms and DS. The logistic regression model was conducted to assess independent factors associated with DS, and the Area Under the Curve (AUC) was used to assess the performance of our model. There was a high incidence of hyperhomocysteinemia (58.8%) and DS (24.4%). Plasma Hcy levels were significantly higher in patients with DS. Age, Hcy levels, and psychiatric symptoms were independently associated with DS. The combination of these variables perfectly differentiated DS and non-DS patients with an AUC value of 0.89. Our study suggests that elevated Hcy levels may be related to DS. Routine monitoring of Hcy is essential and may facilitate early detection of DS in patients with schizophrenia.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Xiangyang Zhang, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge all the participants.

Funding

This work was supported by the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81371477). These sources had no further role in this study design, in the data collection and analysis, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Author notes

  1. Pu Peng and Dongmei Wang are joint first co-authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, China

    Pu Peng, Qianjin Wang, Yuzhu Hao, Shubao Chen, Qiuxia Wu & Tieqiao Liu

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dongmei Wang & Xiangyang Zhang

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dongmei Wang & Xiangyang Zhang

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Hunan Brain Hospital (Hunan Second People’s Hospital), Changsha, China

    Yanan Zhou

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Contributions

PP: formal analysis, writing—original draft. DW: formal analysis, writing—original draft. QW: writing—review and editing. YZ: writing—review and editing. YH: writing—review and editing. SC: writing—review and editing. QW: writing—review and editing. TL: conceptualization, writing—review and editing. XZ: conceptualization, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Tieqiao Liu or Xiangyang Zhang.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (H18031).

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Peng, P., Wang, D., Wang, Q. et al. Positive association between increased homocysteine and deficit syndrome in Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia: a large-scale cross-sectional study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-023-01706-7

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