An investigation found the existence of differences between men and women in relation to the effects of the genetic risk of schizophrenia, which shows the importance of considering this variable.
The study, jointly prepared by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Barcelona (UB), both in Spain, was published in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, They reported Wednesday in a statement.
According to the dimensional vision of mental disorders, psychosis is expressed in a continuum that goes from mild features and experiences present in the general population (schizotypia) to clinical symptoms in patients diagnosed with the disease.
Numerous studies explored the genetic bond between schizophrenia and its subclinical expressions, but the results were inconsistent.
A collaborative and interdisciplinary team led by the Vidal-Barrantes doctors, of the UAB, and Araceli Rosa, of the UB, researchers of the Biomedical Research Center in Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM), addressed this issue.
Also, he analyzed the role of sex in this relationship between genetics and subclinical expressions of schizophrenia, in a sample of almost 1,200 university students.
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A study detects differences in the genetic risk of schizophrenia according to sex
The study did not find a clear association between the genetic load related to schizophrenia (estimated through polygenic risk scores, a measure of the individual risk to develop the disease, which is given by the presence of multiple genetic risk variants related to schizophrenia) and subclinical features.
However, when analyzing the differences between sexes, it was observed that, in men, the genetic risk of schizophrenia is specifically associated with the positive dimension of schizotypia, which includes, for example, having strange beliefs and unusual perceptual experiences.
This pattern was not observed in women, suggesting that the subclinical expression of genetic risk could differ according to sex.
The results, which are part of the doctoral thesis of Patricia Mas Bermejo, highlight the need to consider sex differences in future genetic and clinical studies.
The authors consider that “the specific association observed in men could be related to differences in non -genetic factors, such as the environment, which would modulate the expression of genetic risk.”
“In addition, these differences reflect patterns observed in patients with schizophrenia, in which men tend to present clinical symptoms other than women, a worse premorbid functioning and a more early beginning of the disease,” they added.
Although there was no conclusive evidence of a strong genetic base shared between schizophrenia and its subclinical phenotypes, this study opens new questions and addresses to investigate how genetic variants and environmental factors interact differently according to sex.
With EFE information.
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