Homocysteine levels in adolescent schizophrenia patients

Homocysteine is a sulfur containing amino acid that has been widely investigated for its putative role in cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric disorders. It has been suggested that homocysteine has implications especially in young, mate schizophrenia patients. In this prospective case-control study, we compared plasma homocysteine levels in a group of adolescent schizophrenia inpatients (aged 14-21 years; n=23) to normal healthy controls (n = 51). Mean plasma homocysteine levels were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group (15.40 +/- 2.00 and 9.78 +/- 0.33 mu mol/L, respectively, p < 0.032). The difference was almost entirely attributable to the mate schizophrenia subgroup (18.18 +/- 5.65 in mate patients vs. 10.31 +/- 5.33 mu mol/L in female patients). The group x sex interaction was statistically significant (p=0.0035). These data indicate that a subgroup of mate adolescent schizophrenia patients has high homocysteine blood levels. The rote of homocysteine in the pathophysiology of ado lescen t- onset schizophrenia merits further investigation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V and ECNP. All rights reserved.