OzEMedicine - Wiki for Australian Emergency Medicine Doctors

see also:

• psychiatry and mental health
• anti-psychotic medications

• The incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia show prominent variation between locations.
• Males are more likely to develop schizophrenia than females (1.4 : 1)
• Migrant status, urban birth or residence, and advanced paternal age are associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.
• genetic risk accounts for ~50% of the risk and includes:
  • C4 gene on chromosome 6 ¹⁾
• Prenatal infection and malnutrition are associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia
• Individuals with schizophrenia have a 2–3-fold increased mortality risk compared with the general population. This differential mortality gap may have worsened in recent decades.
• the greater the exposure to cannabis, the greater the risk of developing schizophrenia.
• in women, oestrogen “protects” women from developing severe schizophrenia at an early age.
• fading oestrogen secretion at menopause in vulnerable women leads to relapse of schizophrenia symptoms or new, late-onset schizophrenia.
• in 2026, it was reported that an Indian family where the mother and two of her children all developed schizophrenia had a C182F variant of the TAAR1 gene which made the receptor non-functioning ²⁾
  • when trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) functions properly, it helps maintain “dopaminergic tone,” a balanced state of dopamine activity in the brain

• MJA Feb 2009 Supplement:
  • Characterising novel pathways to schizophrenia
  • New directions in the epidemiology of schizophrenia
  • Brain changes during the onset of schizophrenia: implications for neurodevelopmental theories
  • Synapse formation and regression in the cortex during adolescence and in schizophrenia
  • Are common childhood or adolescent infections risk factors for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders?
  • Amphetamine psychosis: a model for studying the onset and course of psychosis
  • Therapeutic signposts: using biomarkers to guide better treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
  • A clinical trials agenda for testing interventions in earlier stages of psychotic disorders
  • Oestrogen — a new treatment approach for schizophrenia?
  • Are the cardiometabolic complications of schizophrenia still neglected? Barriers to care
  • Mental health policy — stumbling in the dark?