Gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: Features from a Pakistani family
Gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: Features from a Pakistani family
Warda Fatima1 , Shahida Hasnain1 , Saqib Mahmood2
ABSTRACT
Schizophrenia is a chronic psychosis with a worldwide prevalence of 1%. It is diagnosed on the basis of psychiatricsymptoms and till now no biochemical test is available for its diagnosis. It is considered one of the most costlydisease in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Its heritability content is considered to be up to 80% but still it isunknown whether it’s a pure genetic disease. It is considered a polygenic multifactorial condition where both genes and environment have roles in disease development. In the present study we selected a family withmultiple schizophrenic patients and have identified some reasons for disease development. It is estimated from study that in Pakistan there is gender bias in schizophrenia unlike the worldwide data because more of males are affected in the selected family. For the males the age at onset was higher compared to females and the affected individuals were unmarried and unemployed. Parental consanguinity was another important determinant studied and was identified that three of four offsprings of cousin marriage were schizophrenic. It was concluded from the present study that along with inherited nature of schizophrenia importance of shared environment cannot be ruled out. There is an urgent need to educate general population about the consequences of disorder so that people take it cautiously and it may treated early and its bad consequences be reduced.
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June 2017
Vol. 32, Iss. 1, Pages 1-158
