Jews and their intraethnic differential vulnerability to affective disorders, fact or artifact? I: An overview of the literature.
The observation that Ashkenazim have higher rates of affective disorders than either Sephardi or Oriental Jews was reanalyzed from the available literature. Statistical reanalysis of these studies was consistent with rates being elevated for Ashkenazim. The results of these treatment-based studies, however, suffer from biases due to differential help-seeking patterns, lack of accounting for readmission rates, diagnostic unreliability, misuse of frequency ratios relative to other disorders and failure to control for confounding variables. As a result of these causes for biases and in the absence of a true incidence or prevalence study serving as a basis for these observations, the assumption that Ashkenazim are at an increased risk for affective disorders is questionable and may be a mere result of methodological artifacts.
Kohn
R
R
Brown University, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Providence, RI.
Levav
I
I
D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors