Study Family History of Psychiatry Disorders in Schizophrenia Patients

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic heterogeneous mental disorder that often has debilitating long-term outcomes. Our aim in this study is to survey history of psychiatric disorders in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and its association with the disease clinical and demographic profile.

Methods: In this retrospective study the hospital records of all schizophrenia patients that had been admitted in Ibn Sina Psychiatric Hospital from March 2018 to March 2019 were surveyed. Histories of any psychiatry disorders in the first-degree relatives of the schizophrenia patients were searched. The patients with positive family history were compared with those with negative family history in regard to age of onset, sex, negative symptoms, substance abuse and education level.

Results: Of 250 files that were studied, 62 (24.2%) patients had family history of psychiatry disorders. Schizophrenia (10.8%), schizoaffective disorder (7.2%) and bipolar disorder (4.2%) were the most common psychiatry disorders in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients. Male sex, lower age at onset, substance abuse, negative symptoms, and lower education were more frequently observed in schizophrenia patients with positive family history.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that family histories of schizophrenia, schizoaffective and bipolar disorder were higher in family history of schizophrenia patients than normal population. Furthermore, positive family history for psychiatric disorder is associated with worse prognosis in schizophrenia patients.

J Neurol Res. 2020;10(6):231-234
doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jnr631