The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 193: 305-310. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.046037
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Correlation and familial aggregation of dimensions of psychosis in affected sibling pairs from China

Evangelos Vassos, MD, PhD

King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatry, and Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, London, UK

Pak C. Sham, MD, PhD, MRCPsych

King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatry, and Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, London, UK, and Department of Psychiatry, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, China

Guiqing Cai, MD, Hong Deng, MD, Xiehe Liu, MD and Xueli Sun, MD

The Psychiatric Laboratory and Department of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China

Jinghua Zhao, PhD and Robin M. Murray, MD, DSc, FRCPsych

King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, London, UK

David A. Collier, PhD

King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatry, and Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, London, UK

Tao Li, MD, PhD

King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatry, and Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, London, UK, and The Psychiatric Laboratory and Department of Psychiatry, and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China

Correspondence: Tao Li, Institute of Psychiatry, Box P082, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: tao.li{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background

A number of studies with conflicting results have examined the familiality of schizophrenia syndromes in Western populations.

Aims

The objective of this study was to determine, using clinical data from concordant sibling pairs, whether symptom dimensions and other clinical characteristics of schizophrenia show familial aggregation and are therefore potentially useful traits in genetic studies.

Method

We measured clinical and demographic features, and symptom dimensions of schizophrenia in 137 families from China who had two or more affected members with schizophrenia. Within-sibling pair correlation was assessed with intraclass correlation coefficient and kappa statistics.

Results

Global functioning, positive, disorganisation and dysphoric symptoms, premorbid schizotypal and schizoid traits, premorbid social adjustment, type and age at illness onset all showed significant evidence of familial aggregation. DSM–IV schizophrenia subtypes were also found to be familial.

Conclusions

This is the first study in a large non-European population to confirm that schizophrenia dimensions and clinical characteristics show significant familiality, implying possible heritability. This supports their use in the delineation of homogeneous subsets for future genetic studies.


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