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Increased number of offspring in first degree relatives of psychotic individuals: a partial explanation for the persistence of psychotic illnesses
Author(s) -
Weiser M.,
Reichenberg A.,
Werbeloff N.,
Halperin D.,
Kravitz E.,
Yoffe R.,
Davidson M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2008.01332.x
Subject(s) - persistence (discontinuity) , offspring , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , psychiatry , psychosis , clinical psychology , medicine , pregnancy , genetics , biology , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Objective: As patients with psychotic illness have fewer offspring than controls, the persistence of psychotic illness is puzzling. We hypothesized that unaffected first‐degree relatives of patients have more offspring than controls. Method: Probands were 4904, individuals with non‐affective psychotic disorders identified from a hospitalization registry. Unaffected first degree relatives and matched controls were identified from the Israeli Population Registry. The number of offspring of unaffected parents, biological siblings and controls was ascertained. Results: Unaffected parents of psychotic patients had more offspring/person than controls; 4.5 ± 2.7 vs. 3.4 ± 2.2, P = 0.000. Unaffected parents from familial psychosis families (more than one affected family member) had 1.83 more offspring than controls; unaffected parents from non‐familial psychosis families had 0.97 more offspring than controls (both P < 0.001). Conclusion: These findings might imply that genes which increase susceptibility for schizophrenia may be associated with increased number of offspring, perhaps supplying a partial explanation for the persistence of psychosis.