The British Journal of Psychiatry (2006) 188: 186-187. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.104.008177
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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SHORT REPORTS

Intellectual asymmetry and genetic liability in first-degree relatives of probands with schizophrenia

EUGENIA KRAVARITI, PhD, TIMOTHEA TOULOPOULOU, PhD, FRANCESCA MAPUA-FILBEY, PhD, KATJA SCHULZE, MSc, MURIEL WALSHE, BA, PAK SHAM, MRCPsych, ROBIN M. MURRAY, FRCPsych, DSc and COLM McDONALD, MRCPsych, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, Section of General Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Correspondence: Dr Eugenia Kravariti, Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, Box 63, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 20 7848 0331, fax: +44 20 7701 9041, e-mail: e.kravariti{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Summary Intellectual asymmetry with superiority of verbal skills to spatial skills frequently characterises patients with schizophrenia, but it is unclear whether this pattern also reflects genetic susceptibility tothe disorder. We examined the association of a continuous measure of genetic liability to schizophrenia with Verbal–Spatial Contrast IQ (an index of intellectual asymmetry) in108 first-degree relatives without psychosis of probands with schizophrenia. Higher genetic liability was significantly associated with greater intellectual asymmetry in favour of verbal skills. Intellectual asymmetry with a relative superiority of verbal skills to spatial skills represents a putative endophenotype of schizophrenia.