Schizophrenia tied to a range of autoimmune ills

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Results of a study suggest that schizophrenia may be associated with a larger range of autoimmune diseases than previously suspected.

Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of the population and can trigger delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations. It is very difficult to treat. A few autoimmune disorders are thought to play some role in schizophrenia.

Dr. William W. Eaton, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues examined the association between schizophrenia and a range of autoimmune diseases using three databases.

Included in the analysis were 7704 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia between 1981 and 1998 and their parents, and age- and sex-matched controls and their parents.

Subjects with a history of one or more autoimmune diseases had a 45 percent higher risk of schizophrenia, according to the authors. Schizophrenia patients had a higher prevalence of nine autoimmune disorders compared with comparison subjects.

Compared with the parents of controls, the parents of schizophrenic patients had a higher prevalence of 12 autoimmune diseases.

The autoimmune disorders—thyrotoxicosis, celiac disease, acquired hemolytic anemia, Interstitial cystitis, and Sjogren’s syndrome—occurred more often in schizophrenic patients and their parents compared with the controls and their parents.

“In future clinical studies, it may be interesting to search for a family history of autoimmune diseases ... in patients with schizophrenia,” Eaton’s team suggests. “Eventually, individual or family disease comorbidity may help to elucidate shared etiologic pathways.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry March 2006. 

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