AsianScientist (Sep. 20, 2011) – A study published today in Epilepsia has shown a bidirectional relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy.
With data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance database, researchers found that patients with epilepsy (a chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures) were almost eight times more likely to develop schizophrenia (a neurological characterized by hallucinations and paranoia).
Similarly, patients with schizophrenia were about six times more likely to develop epilepsy.
“This relationship may be due to common pathogenesis in these diseases such as genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, but further investigation of the pathological mechanisms are needed,” said lead author Dr. I-Ching Chou, Associate Professor at the China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan.
Researchers from Taiwan identified 5,195 patients with schizophrenia and 11,527 patients with epilepsy who were diagnosed between 1999 and 2008.
Compared to the non-schizophrenia control (1.19 per 1,000 person-years), the incidence of epilepsy was higher in the schizophrenia patient group at 6.99 per 1,000 person-years.
Meanwhile, the incidence of schizophrenia was 3.53 per 1,000 person-years for patient with epilepsy compared to 0.46 in the non-epilepsy group.
Furthermore, the researchers reported that schizophrenia incidence was slightly higher in men with epilepsy than in women with the disease.
Prior clinical trials have noted the prevalence of psychosis among epilepsy patients and suggested a correlation between schizophrenia and epilepsy due to shared genetic, environmental, and neurological factors.
But though a number of trials have noted a bidirectional relationship between depression, mood disorder, and epilepsy, this study is the first of its kind to draw a distinct relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy.
The article can be found at: Yu-Tzu Chang et al. (2011) Bidirectional relation between schizophrenia and epilepsy: A population-based retrospective cohort study.
——
Source: Wiley-Blackwell.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
