Schizophrenics at Higher Risk for Autoimmune Diseases

Though previous findings have shown that people with certain autoimmune diseases may be at a greater risk of developing schizophrenia, new research suggests that those suffering from this mental health disorder may also be at a greater risk for contracting the similar health problems. 

Researchers examined 3.83 million Danes, with registry data from 1987 to 2010 39,364 showing people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, while 142,328 participants in the survey were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. 

By linking the data sets, they discovered that those suffering from schizophrenia had a 53 percent higher risk of contracting an autoimmune disease when compared do those not suffering from the health issue. To add to that, those with schizophrenia who had been hospitalized or received treatment for severe infection carried a 2.7 times higher risk of getting an autoimmune disease.

"Six per cent of the schizophrenic patients have an autoimmune disease that requires treatment in a hospital. But the actual occurrence is significantly higher, seeing as our study does not incorporate all the people who are being treated by general physicians or have not been diagnosed yet. This means that psychiatrists should be on the lookout for signs of physical illness among their patients with schizophrenia, including autoimmune diseases," said Michael Eriksen Benrós, MD and PhD, who is senior researcher at the National Centre for Register-Based Research at Aarhus University and the Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, via a press release.

Though researchers note that the findings show a definite possibility of correlations, at this time, the study does not provide a definitive explanation for why schizophrenics have such an increased risk for contracting certain diseases.

"It could be that people with schizophrenia er genetically vulnerable to infections, which increases the risk of getting schizophrenia but also autoimmune diseases," he adds, via the release. 

He notes that the body can react to infection by producing many antibodies that work with the infection and break down the body's own tissue, further developing an autoimmune disease. 

Yet researchers believe that another explanation could also point to the diagnosis of neuropsychiatric symptoms, which are often the first signs of an autoimmune disease developing. Of course, genetics and lifestyle also play a role.

For their next step, researchers hope to try and combine data registry to further examine possible interactions between genes and environment.

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found here.