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Biomedical subjects

L Asnis

Publications and source records attributed to L Asnis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

A controlled family history study of prepubertal major depressive disorder.

First-degree (N = 195) and second-degree (N = 785) adult relatives of prepubertal children with major depression (N = 48), children with nonaffective psychiatric disorders (N = 20), and normal children (N = 27) were assessed by the Family History-Research Diagnostic Criteria method (FH-RDC), except for the adult informant (usually the mother), who was directly interviewed. Compared with normal controls, prepubertal children with major depressive disorder (MDD) had significantly higher familial rates of psychiatric disorders in both first- and second-degree relatives, especially MDD, alcoholism, and "other" (mostly anxiety) diagnoses. Relatives of children in the nonaffective psychiatric control (PC) group had low rates of alcoholism, high rates of other (anxiety) disorder diagnoses, and intermediate rates of MDD (accounted for by those children with separation anxiety). This suggests that prepubertal onset of major depression may be especially likely in families with a high aggregation of affective disorders when these families also have a high prevalence of alcoholism, and that a proportion of children without affective disorder but with separation anxiety disorder in this study were at high risk for the development of affective illness later in life. These results support the validity of prepubertal-onset depressive illness as a diagnostic category, and are consistent with high familial rates of MDD and other psychiatric disorders found in family studies of adolescent and early-onset adult probands with major affective disorders, and with studies of the offspring of parents with major affective disorders. Within the child MDD group substantial heterogeneity was found. Low familial rates of MDD were associated with suicidality and comorbid conduct disorder in the child probands. The highest familial rates of MDD, approximately threefold those in the normal controls, and all the bipolar relatives, were found in the families of prepubertal probands with MDD who never had a concrete suicidal plan or act and who were without comorbid conduct disorder. A useful nosological continuum in which to classify prepubertal MDD may be to place at one end those patients with comorbid conduct disorder and at the other end those patients with manifestations related to bipolarity, including hypomania, mania, and psychotic subtype.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

A family study of schizophrenic and normal control probands: implications for the spectrum concept of schizophrenia.

Morbidity risks for mental illness were determined in 750 first-degree relatives of chronic schizophrenic and normal control probands. Psychiatric disorders that were more frequent in relatives of schizophrenic probands than in relatives of normal control probands were chronic schizophrenia (5.8% versus 0.6%), schizotypal personality disorder (definite, 14.6% versus 2.1%; probable, 12.1% versus 6.5%), and paranoid personality disorder (7.3% versus 2.3%). The data suggest that schizotypal and paranoid personality disorders are genetically related to schizophrenia. The implications for schizophrenia research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Modern research criteria and the genetics of schizophrenia.

The authors assessed the relevance of narrowly defined diagnostic criteria to genetic research in schizophrenia in the nuclear families of 84 chronic schizophrenic probands compared with families of 90 normal control probands. The morbidity risk for narrowly defined schizophrenia in first-degree relatives of patients with the narrow diagnosis was significantly higher than the control rate (3.8% versus 0.3%). The rate of chronic schizophrenia in the relatives of all schizophrenic patients was also significantly higher than the control rate (7.1% versus 0.6%), as was the rate of "spectrum" disorders (33.4% versus 11.3%). The data support the case for familial transmission of narrowly defined schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Familial transmission of schizotypal and borderline personality disorders.

The authors determined the risk for psychiatric disorders in the first-degree relatives of 36 probands with schizotypal personality disorder (13 definite, 23 probable), 17 probands with borderline personality disorder (two definite, 15 probable), and 90 normal control probands. The relatives of probands with schizotypal personality disorder without a concurrent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder had a significantly greater risk for schizotypal personality disorder than the relatives of normal control probands, borderline probands, or schizotypal probands with coexisting borderline personality disorder. The relatives of borderline probands had a significantly greater risk for definite and probable borderline personality disorder than the relatives of normal control probands.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Erythrocyte catechol O-methyltransferase activity in schizophrenia: analysis of family data.

The authors determined the erythrocyte catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) activity of 38 chronic schizophrenic patients, 69 of their first-degree relatives, and 39 normal controls. COMT activity did not distinguish patients from controls. Within families, COMT activity was not associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The data suggest that COMT activity is not an indicator of vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Platelet monoamine oxidase activity and genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, determined in 102 patients with chronic schizophrenia, 223 first-degree relatives, and 88 normal control subjects, was shown to be a heritable and stable trait and was significantly lower in patients than in normal control subjects. Within families, MAO activity distinguished ill from well relatives. However, the considerable overlap in enzyme activity between affected and unaffected individuals limits the usefulness of low MAO activity as a major risk factor in schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Plasma amine oxidase and genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Plasma amine oxidase (PAO) activity was studied in 52 chronic schizophrenics, 130 first-degree relatives, and 36 normal control subjects. Enzyme activity was shown to be a heritable and stable characteristic. Age and sex effects were not present. Patients had lower PAO activity than did control subjects, although the difference fell short of statistical significance. Within families, reduced PAO activity was associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Age-of-onset in schizophrenia and schizotypal disorders. Clinical and genetic implications.

Age-of-onset data were gathered on 93 chronic schizophrenic probands and 57 affected (mainly schizotypal) siblings. 55% of affected individuals were ill before age 20 and 14% had their onset before age 14. The risk period for schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorders terminated at age 40. Age-of-onset did not distinguish paranoid from nonparanoid schizophrenics, or definite from probable schizotypal personalities. Schizophrenic and schizotypal subjects were similar in their age-of-onset patterns. Sex effect on age-of-onset was not present. A square-root normal distribution gave the best fit to the data. The implications of these findings for schizophrenia research were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Familial relatedness of schizophrenia and schizotypal states.

The types and expectancy of mental disorders in the siblings of 74 probands with chronic schizophrenia were examined. The siblings were classified according to whether 1) both parents had schizotypal personality disorder, 2) one parent had the disorder and one was normal, or 3) both parents were normal. Siblings whose parents both had the disorder were at significantly greater risk for schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder than siblings with at least one normal parent. Similarly, the expectancy of schizotypal personality disorder alone and combined with schizophrenia was higher among siblings with one parent with the disorder than in siblings with two normal parents. The data suggest that schizotypal traits may be genetically related to schizophrenia.

Adoption↗
PubMed1982

Schizoaffective illness, schizophrenia and affective disorders: morbidity risk and genetic transmission.

Data on schizoaffective illness, schizophrenia and affective disorders were gathered on first-degree relatives of schizoaffective probands and matched controls (bipolars, unipolars and schizophrenics). The familial pattern of affective and schizophrenic subtypes of schizoaffective disorder resembled the familial pattern of affective and schizophrenic probands, respectively. The overall risk for the spectrum of schizoaffective and affective disorders was higher among relatives of schizoaffective-manic as compared to relatives of schizoaffective-depressive probands, although the difference fell short of significance. When tested for consistency with multiple threshold hypotheses of genetic transmission, schizoaffective illness did not qualify as either a more extreme form of affective illness nor as a disorder that occupies an intermediate position between bipolar and unipolar disorders or is genetically milder than affective disorder. The implications of diagnostic subtyping for genetic research in the major psychoses were discussed.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1982

Schizophrenia: a comparative study of patients with and without family history.

To test the hypothesis that schizophrenia can be differentiated on the basis of family history, the authors compared two matched samples of 20 patients each, distinguished by the presence or absence of family history of schizophrenia. Family history was not associated with either onset characteristics, symptom picture, phenomenological subtypes of schizophrenia, prognostic indicators or global assessment score for psychosocial functioning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Assortative mating in affective disorders.

Assortative mating was determined in 170 spouses of patients with major affective illness (bipolar and unipolar). An increase in affective disorders was found in both wives of affected men and husbands of affected women. The data suggest that assortative mating is present in the familial transmission of affective disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

The schedule for Schizotypal Personalities (SSP): a diagnostic interview for schizotypal features.

The validity and reproducibility of psychiatric diagnosis are crucial to psychiatric research. To establish confidence in assigning schizotypal features, three paradigms estimating the reliability of a new instrument, the Schedule for Schizotypal personalities (SSP), were tested. The first paradigm considered joint, but independent evaluations made by two raters simultaneously. The second paradigm assessed evaluations on different occasions, with a mean interim time of 5.9 months (test-retest procedure). Both reliability paradigms demonstrated high levels of agreement for all of the scaled items. Ninety percent of the intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.80 or better for the joint evaluations, and 70% were 0.80 or better for the test-retest evaluation. The third paradigm measured the reliability of DSM-III Schizotypal Personality Disorder. The kappa value for measuring diagnostic agreement was 0.88. The authors recommend the use of the SSP as an interview schedule and discuss the implications of their findings for genetic and biological research of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗