Eating and nutritional habits in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: There are few studies that relate eating and nutritional habits to the severity of the disease and demographic profile in patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: To describe eating and nutritional habits and their relationship with the severity of the disease in patients with schizophrenia.

Method: Cross-sectional descriptive study.

Sample: 31 patients with schizophrenia (ICD-10) under outpatient treatment.

Inclusion Criteria: age 18-65 years, clinically stable and, written informed consent.

Assessment: Demographic, clinical characteristics (CGI-SCH, length of illness, BMI, abdominal perimeter), ad hoc questionnaire (eating, nutritional, and physical activity).

Results: Mean age 43.13(SD=7.85) years, males 61.3%. Mean severity of illness was 3.94(SD=1.06), mean duration of the illness 18.42(SD=8.27) years. 74.2% used to eat weekly fat meat and 64.5% less than 3-4 servings of fish, 77.4% less than 3 servings of fruit per day, and 51.6% drink less than 1l of water. 83.9% used to drink coffee daily, 2.81(SD=2.02) cups per day. Patients showed lower levels of Vitamin A, D, E, K1, C, folic acid, and magnesium. 93.5% did not fulfill the WHO recommendations on physical activity. Only retinol (r=-0.602, p=0.039) and vitamin K1 (r=-0.693, p=0.012) in women were related to the severity of illness.

Conclusions: Outpatients with schizophrenia do not follow WHO recommendations on healthy diets, neither physical activity. Both clinical severity of the illness and marital status and cohabitation were associated with poor eating habits and nutrients deficit. These data should be taken into account by the nursing staff when implementing specific care in routine clinical practice.