title: Prevalence of psychiatric illness in primary caretakers of childhood-onset schizophrenia subjects.
abstract: Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) refers to schizophrenia with onset of psychotic symptoms prior to a child's 13(th) birthday. Optimal treatment likely includes family-based services supplementing antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. However, family-based services can require adjustment based on parental psychopathology; there has been little literature exploring the frequency or type of psychopathology seen in parents of COS cases. This report includes the results of a structured psychiatric evaluation on 80 parents of a COS case with comparison to a sample of 304 parents. Having a child with psychosis and being of minority racial/ethnicity status increased risk for psychiatric illness. Psychotic disorders (15% vs. 5%), mood disorders (54% vs. 27%), anxiety disorders (30% vs. 18%), and substance use disorders (49% vs. 31%) were all increased in the parents with a psychotic child. Psychiatric illness is common in parents of a child with COS and will need to be considered as family-based services for COS are developed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO; ; Department of Psychiatry, Denver Health, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kusumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Denver Health, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Randal G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Ross
keywords: childhood-onset schizophrenia; family study.