title: Parental schizophrenia spectrum disorders in childhood-onset and adult-onset schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Childhood onset of "adult" psychiatric disorders may be caused, in part, by more salient genetic risk. In this study, the rates of schizophrenia spectrum disorders among parents of patients with childhood-onset and adult-onset schizophrenia and parents of community comparison subjects were compared.
  
  
  METHODS
  To assess the presence of axis I and axis II disorders associated with schizophrenia, parents of patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia (95 parents), patients with adult-onset schizophrenia (86 parents), and community comparison subjects (123 parents) were interviewed directly by using semistructured instruments. Information on 19 additional parents (parents of childhood-onset patients, N=2; parents of adult-onset patients, N=11; parents of community comparison subjects, N=6) was obtained by using a family history interview with the same instruments. Transcribed interviews were scored by a rater blind to group membership, and the morbid risks for schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the three groups were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents of patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia had a significantly higher morbid risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (24.74%) than parents of patients with adult-onset schizophrenia (11.35%), and parents of both patient groups had a greater risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorders than did parents of comparison subjects (1.55%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents of patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia have a higher rate of schizophrenia spectrum disorders than parents of patients with adult-onset illness. This is consistent with the hypothesis that a childhood onset of schizophrenia is due, at least in part, to a greater familial diathesis for the disorder.
authors.affiliation: Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nicolson
authors.forename: Frances B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Brookner
authors.forename: Marge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenane
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gochman
authors.forename: Loring J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Ingraham
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pickar
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Weinberger
authors.forename: Judith L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rapoport
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*