Schizophrenia risk factors in exceptional achievers: a re-analysis of a 60-year-old database

Abstract

Current medical research has focused on diseases and their associated risk factors. As such, these factors are assumed to have a deleterious effect. An alternative hypothesis is that some of these risk factors would also increase the chance for an opposite, positive outcome. To test this hypothesis, we considered exceptional social achievement and schizophrenia as opposite outcomes. Sixty years ago, researchers in France collected data on socio-demographic factors associated with exceptional social achievement. As the number of female subjects in the original database was very limited, we restricted our analyses to men. We tested the odds of achieving prominence in the presence of factors known to be associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, namely migration, urbanicity, seasonality of birth, birth order, and paternal age. Three of the five factors tested significantly increased the odds for exceptional social achievement (urban birth, being the first-born and father’s age over 35). Our findings suggest that some of the factors that are currently considered as risk factors for schizophrenia could diversifying factors. Widening the focus of research to include all potential effects of factors associated with disease could have important consequences on our understanding of causal mechanisms and for designing public health interventions.

Month of birth and mental disorders: A population‐based study and validation using global meta‐analysis

“…In a further systematic review, we identified 10 disorders (intellectual disability, ASD, ADHD, schizophrenia, BID, MDD, AUD, Alzheimer's disease, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa) in 51 articles conducted in 25 countries involving 1 539 811 patients 1,3,5,6,27‐73 . The meta‐analytic results of our findings and included studies are summarized in Table 2.…”

“…In a further systematic review, we identified 10 disorders (intellectual disability, ASD, ADHD, schizophrenia, BID, MDD, AUD, Alzheimer's disease, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa) in 51 articles conducted in 25 countries involving 1 539 811 patients. 1 , 3 , 5 , 6 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , …”

Schizophrenia: Developmental Variability Interacts with Risk Factors to Cause the Disorder

“…[46,57] For example, we have shown in prior research that some of the factors that are usually considered RF for schizophrenia (e.g., advanced paternal age, urban birth) are also associated with a contrasted outcome (exceptional achievement). [58] Such a result might seem counterintuitive under an RF-only model but is to be expected in a variability and risk model. Furthermore, in contrast with the "black-box" RF model, our model makes some specific predictions that could be tested (see Section 5).…”