Comparison of early risk factors between healthy siblings and subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Rosany Guterrez Nunes; Carolina Gomes Carrilho; Gilberto Sousa Alves; Dolores Malaspina; Jeffrey Paul Kahn; Antonio Egidio Nardi; André Barciela Veras

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1374216

Comparison of early risk factors between healthy siblings and subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 30:15:1374216. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1374216. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Rosany Guterrez Nunes¹, Carolina Gomes Carrilho¹, Gilberto Sousa Alves², Dolores Malaspina³, Jeffrey Paul Kahn⁴, Antonio Egidio Nardi⁵, André Barciela Veras⁵

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate Program in Health Psychology of the Dom Bosco Catholic University of Campo Grande - MS, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.
² Medical School of the Federal University of Maranhão, São Luis, MA, Brazil.
³ Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Genetics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, United States.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
⁵ Laboratory of Panic and Respiration, Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction: The following work aims to compare the types and magnitude of risk events in patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and each of those groups with of a group of healthy siblings, exploring differences and similarities of the two psychotic disorders.

Methods: Retrospective interviews were conducted with 20 families to investigate maternal and obstetric health, social support and the presence of early trauma for the affected family members and healthy siblings. Mothers were interviewed with the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile and each family participant was assessed with the Early Trauma Inventory, Screening Questionnaire of the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort and the Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis and Affective Disorders.

Results: Obstetric and gestational history, pregnancy weight changes and early trauma were associated with offspring's mental illness, including statistically significant findings for complications of pregnancy, pregnancy weight changes, general trauma, physical punishment and emotional abuse.

Conclusion: These findings highlight the different risk factor exposures that occur within a family, which may increase the risk for severe mental illness.

Keywords: bipolar disorder; early trauma; gestational risk factors; obstetric history; schizophrenia.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. AV was a Senior Post-doctorate supported by grant 10/2022 from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).