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Emotion recognition and genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia

University of Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron and Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, Bron, France

FATIMA ASRI, MD

University of Marrakech, Morocco

JEROME BRUNELIN, PhD

University of Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier and Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, Bron, France

PIERRE KROLAK-SALMON, MD, PhD

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche (INSERM) and Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron

THIERRY D’AMATO, MD, PhD and MOHAMED SAOUD, MD, PhD

University of Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier and Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, Bron, France

IMANE TAZI, MD

University of Marrakech, Morocco

Correspondence: Dr Benoit Bediou,CH Le Vinatier,University of Lyon, EA 3092, 95 Boulevard Pinel, 69677 Bron Cedex, France. Email: benoit.bediou{at}ch-le-vinatier.fr

Declaration of interest None.

Background Epidemiological studies of schizophrenia suggest that this disorder has a substantial genetic component. Cognitive and social abilities, as well as the volumes of brain regions involved in emotion processing, have been found to be distributed along a continuum when comparing patients, siblings and controls, with siblings showing intermediate scores.

Aims To establish whether facial expression recognition is impaired in unaffected siblings of patients.

Method Emotion and gender recognition were evaluated in a three-group pre—post study design in drugnaive patients with first-episode schizophrenia (n=40) and their unaffected siblings (n=30) compared with controls (n=26).

Results Patients and their healthy siblings showed impaired emotion recognition but normal gender recognition compared with controls. Patients’performance did not improve despite effective clinical stabilisation.

Conclusions Impaired performance in healthy siblings and time stability in patients provides evidence of impairment of facial emotion recognition as an actual phenotype of schizophrenia.

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BJP 2007 191: A5. [Full Text]  

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