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. 2019 Feb:204:183-192.
doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.08.001. Epub 2018 Aug 16.

The schizophrenia and bipolar twin study in Sweden (STAR)

Viktoria Johansson  1 , Christina M Hultman  2 , Isabelle Kizling  2 , Lennart Martinsson  2 , Jacqueline Borg  3 , Anna Hedman  2 , Tyrone D Cannon  4
Affiliations

The schizophrenia and bipolar twin study in Sweden (STAR)

Viktoria Johansson et al. Schizophr Res. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

The schizophrenia and bipolar twin study in Sweden (STAR) is a large nation-wide cohort of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sex twins with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and healthy control pairs, extensively characterized with brain imaging, neuropsychological tests, biomarkers, genetic testing, psychiatric symptoms and personality traits. The purpose is to investigate genetic and environmental mechanisms that give rise to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as well as the intermediate phenotypes. This article describes the design, recruitment, data collection, measures, collected twins' characteristics, diagnostic procedures as well as ongoing and planned analyses. Identification of biomarkers, genetic and epigenetic variation and the development of specific and common endophenotypes for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are potential gains from this cohort.

Keywords: Biomarker; Endophenotype; Etiology; Gene-environment interaction; Neuroimaging; Psychiatry.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS

Dr. Cannon is a consultant to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Lundbeck A/S. The content of this paper is unrelated to these consulting activities. All other authors have declared that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of this study.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flowchart of the recruitment procedure in The Schizophrenia and Bipolar Twin Study in Sweden (STAR). CC=Concordant, DC=Discordant, SCZ = Schizophrenia, BP=Bipolar disorder
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Proportion of participants in The Schizophrenia and Bipolar Twin Study in Sweden (STAR) who completed the different testing procedures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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