Reduced fertility in schizophrenia: Here to stay?

Ward, StephenH.; Weston, N.; Brar, Jaspreet S.; DeLeo, M.; Ganguli, R.; Nimgaonkar, V.L.

doi:10.1016/0006-3223(95)94575-h

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These results, together with those from previous studies (Erlenmeyer-Kimling et al, 1980;Haverkamp et al, 1982), support the validity across time and locale of reduced fitness in the illness. Also consistent with others' findings (Erlenmeyer-Kimling et al, 1980;Hilger et al, 1983;Nanko and Moridaira, 1993;Fananas and Bertranpetit, 1995;Ward et al, 1995), male subjects with schizophrenia had lower fitness than females. There was no evidence supporting positive selection in siblings taken as a group and clearly no increased fitness in brothers.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Clinically, reduced fitness was correlated with decreased likelihood of marriage, poorer functioning and more severe positive symptoms; negative symptoms were not correlated. Age at onset in affected individuals was not correlated with fitness, consistent with results from other groups (Essen-Moller, 1959;Ward et al, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The consistency of results in the current study and throughout this century (Kallmann, 1938;Book, 1953a;Essen-Moller, 1959;Lindelius, 1970;Slater et al, 1971;Bleuler, 1978;Vogel, 1979;Erlenmeyer-Kimling et al, 1980;Odegaard, 1980;Ward et al, 1995) suggests that reduced fitness is an inherent feature of schizophrenia. In contrast to manic depression which has relatively preserved reproductive fitness (Erlenmeyer-Kimling, 1978;Lane et al, 1995), high rates of single marital status and childlessness are common in schizophrenia.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…Similar reduced fitness was found in younger and older subjects, indicating the finding is not merely due to delayed reproduction. Treatment venue (institution or community), medications and social conditions appear to have a relatively limited effect on fitness (Ward et al, 1995). Poor general functioning and positive symptoms may limit the ability of patients and some siblings, to marry and reproduce.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is some evidence, from both older (Erlenmeyer-Kimling et al, 1980;Odegaard, 1980) and more recent (Hilger et al, 1983;Nanko and Moridaira, 1993;Fananas and Bertranpetit, 1995;Ward et al, 1995) studies, that fitness in schizophrenia is lower in men than in women. Differential expression depending on parental origin of disease genes, or imprinting, may be important in psychiatric illnesses (Flint, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Reproductive fitness in familial schizophrenia

Bassett¹,

McAlduff²,

Bury³

et al. 1995

Schizophrenia Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background-Reproductive fitness is an important factor in understanding inheritance in genetic disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine whether fitness is reduced in familial schizophrenia (FS) and if fitness in siblings differs from the norm.Method-The number of offspring in 36 subjects with RDC schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and their 101 siblings from large FS families was compared with age-adjusted census figures.Results-Fitness in the SZ group was significantly reduced: 23% of expected in males and 51% of expected in females. Fitness of unaffected siblings was within census expectations. However, female siblings with schizophrenia spectrum features had increased fitness over census norms. Reduced fitness was correlated with low marital rates, poor functioning and positive symptoms.Conclusions-These results indicate that reduced fitness is an important genetic force in FS and is likely inherent to the illness. Sex differences are important and would need to be considered when examining maternal and paternal transmission of schizophrenia. The results support a proposed high mutation rate for schizophrenia, consistent with a dynamic mutation mechanism.

show abstract