In recent years a growing number of research data seems to suggest that neuropsychiatric disorders share some common genetic causes, whether inherited mutations that new. Recently the British Journal of Psychiatry published an epidemiological study conducted by the Center for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry at the University of Western Australia on the association between Intellectual Disability (ID) and presence of psychiatric disorders in the mother. This is the largest study of its kind ever made, with a sample of 3174 childrencompared with 3129 controls. The mothers had received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. From the survey, the risk of intellectual disability was three times higher in children born to mothers suffering from a psychiatric disorder. The association has been observed for more severe schizophrenia (odds ratio = 3.2), followed by bipolar disorder (OR = 3.1) and major depression (OR = 2.9). Neonatal encephalopathy, fetal distress or obstetric complications were additional risk factors, independent of maternal psychiatric illness. The Australian researchers have found that the incidence of rare genetic syndromes (Hurler, Klinefelter, Moebius, Noonan, Prader-Willi Syndrome, Rett, Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, Turner) is higher in children with mothers suffering from a psychiatric disorder than the general population, with a maximum risk for schizophrenia (OR = 8.5). The pervasive developmental disorders, including autism, seem to be associated more often maternal anamnesis of bipolar disorder. The findings support some previous evidence on the existence of common genetic alterations in phenotypically different neuropsychiatric disorders. Epigenetic, environmental risk factors and their mutual interaction seems to say that all problems are due to an alteration of neurodevelopmental, and in several cases concerned different areas of the central nervous system or intervene at different moments of individual development.
This article has been translated and adapted to English (American) by Courtney Diamond
RIFERENCES
- Vera A. Morgan, Maxine L. Croft, Giulietta M. Valuri, Stephen R. Zubrick, Carol Bower, Thomas F. McNeil, and Assen V. Jablensky. Intellectual disability and other neuropsychiatric outcomes in high-risk children of mothers with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar major depression. British Journal of Psychiatry. Published online January 12, 2012