Clinical and demographic characteristics of psychiatric patients seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi.
OBJECTIVE
Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection can affect the central nervous system and possibly lead to psychiatric disorders. We compared clinical and demographic variables in Bb seropositive and seronegative psychiatric patients and healthy controls.


METHODS
Nine hundred and twenty-six consecutive psychiatric patients were screened for antibodies to Bb and compared with 884 simultaneously recruited healthy subjects.


RESULTS
Contrary to healthy controls, seropositive psychiatric patients were significantly younger than seronegative ones. None of the studied psychiatric diagnostic categories exhibited stronger association with seropositivity. There were no differences between seropositive and seronegative psychiatric patients in hospitalization length, proportion of previously hospitalized patients and proportion of subjects with family history of psychiatric disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings elaborate on potential association between Bb infection and psychiatric morbidity, but fail to identify any specific clinical 'signature' of Bb infection.
Hájek
T
T
Prague Psychiatric Center, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. hajek@pcp.lf3.cuni.cz
Libiger
J
J
Janovská
D
D
Hájek
P
P
Alda
M
M
Höschl
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*
D000906:Antibodies