Aim: To calculate the risk to offspring of having both parents with a psychiatric disorder.
Research Method: This was a national register-based cohort study conducted in Denmark. Also classed as a Natural Experiment – IV = Parent diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar DV = Children diagnosed with any mental illness according to the ICD
Sample: A population of 2.6 million people born before 1997 who had an identifiable mother and father with schizophrenia or bipolar. The data was sampled in 2007 so the minimum age of participants was 10 years old. From this population 196 couples, BOTH with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and their 270 children. From this population 83 couples, BOTH with a diagnosis of bipolar, and their 146 childrenComparison group with 8006 couples, ONE parent diagnosed with schizophrenia, and around 14,000 children. Comparison group with 11,995 couples. ONE parent diagnosed with bipolar, and around 23,000 children. The remainder of the population were used as the final comparison group, with neither parents suffering with a mental disorder i.e. healthy parents and their children.
Procedure:IV was operationalised as parents receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia bipolar disorder, or a related psychotic condition in accordance to W.H.O classification and diagnosis of mental illness ICD.The DV was operationalised as offspring received a diagnosis of mental illness according to the ICD. This was represented by an increased risk of offspring developing mental illness from 10 to 52 years of age.Ethics:approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency as data available for register-based research do not include information that can lead to the identification of individuals.
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Gottesman
Findings:For both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder the risk of mental illness was much greater for offspring of two parents with a diagnosis: 27.3% of offspring with both parents diagnosed with schizophrenia, had developed schizophrenia by the age of 52. The risk increased when the calculation included any other mental health issues – 67.5%For offspring with one parent diagnosed with schizophrenia the risk was 7% of a diagnosis developing by the age of 52.
For offspring who had neither parent having any diagnosis, the risk was 1.1% for a diagnosis of schizophrenia by the age of 52.
The risk were very similar with bipolar disorder i.e. more risk when both parents had a diagnosis and less risk when neither parent had a diagnosis.
Risks of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in offspring of couples with one parent with schizophrenia and the other with bipolar disorder were around 15%.
Possible conclusions: The offspring of dual matings diagnosed with psychosis constitute a super-high-risk sample of psychosis. This implies a strong role of genetics when explaining mental health issues.
The role of genetics in schizophrenia and other mental health issues are highly influential. Therefore, derived risks of psychosis may be informative for counselling.
There is evidence to support the genetic explanation of mental illness.
Derived risks of psychosis may be of use to genetic counsellors to inform personal decisions with regard to marriage, family formation, adoption, and health insurance planning.
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