Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Dec;97(1-3):43-50.
doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2007.09.027. Epub 2007 Oct 22.

Age-specific familial risks of psychotic disorders and schizophrenia: a nation-wide epidemiological study from Sweden

Xinjun Li  1 , Jan Sundquist, Kristina Sundquist
Affiliations

Age-specific familial risks of psychotic disorders and schizophrenia: a nation-wide epidemiological study from Sweden

Xinjun Li et al. Schizophr Res. 2007 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: This study analyzed men and women separately by age at hospital diagnosis of psychotic disorder or schizophrenia and by maternal or paternal disease after taking several possible confounders into account.

Methods: The Multigeneration Register, in which all men and women born in Sweden from 1932 onwards are registered together with their parents, was linked to hospital data. This yielded 21,199 male and 19,029 female cases of psychotic disorders in addition to 12,799 paternal and 23,021 maternal cases of psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia). Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated as the ratio of observed and expected number of cases among men and women with mothers and/or fathers affected by psychotic disorders or schizophrenia, compared with men and women whose mothers and/or fathers were not affected by psychotic disorders or schizophrenia.

Results: The overall significant SIRs among men and women with a mother, father or both parents hospitalized for psychotic disorder varied between 2.86 and 20.30. Maternal transmission of psychotic disorder was stronger than paternal, and the highest SIRs were found in the youngest age groups. Similar results were found when the subgroup schizophrenia was analyzed separately. Maternal or paternal schizophrenia implied higher risks for the offspring than maternal or paternal psychotic disorders.

Conclusions: Hereditary factors have a strong influence on the onset of psychotic disorders and schizophrenia. Young people and individuals with both parents affected by these diseases need special attention as their SIRs were particularly increased.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age-specific incidence rates of psychotic disorders in men and women aged 0 to 72 years.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Albus M, Maier W. Lack of gender differences in age at onset in familial schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 1995;18(1):51–57. - PubMed
    1. Alda M, Ahrens B, Lit W, Dvorakova M, Labelle A, Zvolsky P, et al. Age of onset in familial and sporadic schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1996;93(6):447–450. - PubMed
    1. Brown AS, Susser ES, Lin SP, Neugebauer R, Gorman JM. Increased risk of affective disorders in males after second trimester prenatal exposure to the Dutch hunger winter of 1944–45. Br J Psychiatry. 1995;166(5):601 –606. - PubMed
    1. Cannon TD, Kaprio J, Lonnqvist J, Huttunen M, Koskenvuo M. The genetic epidemiology of schizophrenia in a Finnish twin cohort. A population-based modeling study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55(1):67–74. - PubMed
    1. Cardno AG, Marshall EJ, Coid B, Macdonald AM, Ribchester TR, Davies NJ, et al. Heritability estimates for psychotic disorders: the Maudsley twin psychosis series. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56(2):162–168. - PubMed

Publication types