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Sex Differences in the Familial Transmission of Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jill M. Goldstein ,
Stephen V. Faraone ,
Wei J. Chen ,
George S. Tolomiczencko  and
Ming T. Tsuang
Jill M. Goldstein*
Affiliation:
The Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Psychiatry Service, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center, USA
Stephen V. Faraone
Affiliation:
The Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Psychiatry Service, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center, USA
Wei J. Chen
Affiliation:
The Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Psychiatry Service, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center, USA
George S. Tolomiczencko
Affiliation:
The Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Psychiatry Service, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center, USA
Ming T. Tsuang
Affiliation:
The Section of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Psychiatry Service, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center, USA
*
∗ Psychiatry Service (116A), Brockton VA Medical Center, 940 Belmont Street, Brockton, MA 02401, USA
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Abstract

The hypothesis that schizophrenic men have a lower familial risk for schizophrenia than schizophrenic women was tested using the DSM–III-diagnosed samples of the Iowa 500 and non-500 family studies. Survival analyses were used to test for differences in the risk for schizophrenia and spectrum disorders, for sex of proband and sex of relative, controlled for fertility effects and ascertainment bias. Male and female relatives of schizophrenic men had a significantly lower risk for schizophrenia, schizophreniform, and schizoaffective disorders than relatives of schizophrenic women. However, the effect was not significant for the full spectrum nor when analysed by sex of relative. Sex differences in the risk for other psychiatric disorders among relatives of schizophrenic probands were not significant.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 6 , June 1990 , pp. 819 - 826
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

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