The genetics of schizophrenia: a reassessment using modern criteria.
The authors present two reasons for reassessing familial transmission of schizophrenia: recent major changes in diagnostic criteria and methodological weaknesses of older studies. Their own study of this subject employed narrowly defined, operational research criteria; prospective proband selection; semistructured family interviews; and blind, independent diagnoses of probands and relatives. For 30 schizophrenic probands they found an age-corrected morbidity risk in first-degree relatives of 1.61%, a figure that would only support familial transmission if the true population prevalence of schizophrenia were .2% or less. The authors conclude that the case for familial transmission of narrowly defined schizophrenia is weak and suggest alternative hypotheses.
D000293:Adolescent; D000300:Adoption; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012306:Risk; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*