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Serum Calcium and Magnesium in Schizophrenia: Relationship to Clinical Phenomena and Neuroleptic Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Paul E. Alexander ,
Daniel P. van Kammen  and
William E. Bunney Jr.
Paul E. Alexander
Affiliation:
Section of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Division of Biology and Medicine; Veterans Administration Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, 02908, USA
Daniel P. van Kammen
Affiliation:
Unit on Neuropsychopharmacology, Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014, USA
William E. Bunney Jr.
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014, USA
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Summary

Serum calcium and magnesium were studied in drug-free and neuroleptic-treated schizophrenic patients. Calcium and magnesium were not significantly different in 31 unmedicated schizophrenic patients compared with normal controls. Serum calcium was altered, however, in two subgroups: (1) Patients who remitted after neuroleptic withdrawal were significantly lower in calcium than those who did not remit; (2) catatonic schizophrenic patients appeared to have an increased calcium at the onset of catatonic stupor.

Patients treated with pimozide were found to have a significant decrease in both calcium and magnesium compared with their drug-free values. These same patients showed a similar decrease in both electrolytes during treatment with fluphenazine, a structurally different neuroleptic drug.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 133 , Issue 2 , August 1978 , pp. 143 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

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