Smoking May Be a Risk Factor for Schizophrenia

[MindMover]

March 30, 2012 — New research suggests that smoking alters the impact of a schizophrenia risk gene — the transcription factor 4 (TCF4) gene, which is known to play a key role in early brain development.

The study showed that healthy adults who carry TCF4 variants and who smoke process acoustic stimuli in a similarly deficient way as adults with schizophrenia. And the impact is stronger the more the person smokes.

The research was published online March 26 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

"Smoking might be a relevant risk factor for schizophrenia and should be considered when genetic risk factors of psychiatric disorders are assessed," first author Boris B. Quednow, PhD, from University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich in Switzerland, told Medscape Medical News.

In addition, "a set of markers, including smoking, electrophysiological parameters, and genes, might help to identify and predict subtypes of schizophrenia, which may lead us also to new treatment options," he said.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761252?sssdmh=dm1.772315&src=nldne

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[kestrel91316]

1. My schizophrenic mom NEVER smoked.

[MindMover]

2. Nor did my grandma....and she wasn't schizo.....but...

grandpa, now he was a different can of worms.....

[libodem]

3. I worked in an old state hospital

All my schizophrenic patients smoked like camp fires. It helped them cope. Meds for schizophrenia cause Parkinsons symptoms from pill rolling fingers to the Thorazine shuffle. I hear nicotine patches help some parkinsons patients.

Later in life when I took care of veterans lots of them had Parkinsons. The Meds had dopamine in them which caused hallucinations and delusions like my former mental patients had. I would have loved to help research new meds for both diseases.

[fasttense]

4. Or is it that those with the TCF4 gene variants who process acoustic stimuli

in a deficient way and are more likely to smoke?

It reminds me of the bra scare. About 10 or 20 years ago, health scientists were going around saying that bras caused cancer because bra wearing women were more likely to get breast cancer. Women who wore bras the most were the most likely to get cancer. But it turned out women with larger breasts were more likely to wear bras AND were more likely to get breast cancer (because the bigger they are the more there is to get cancer - same reason men are less likely to get breast cancer.) Cause and effect are not always evident in statistical studies and I doubt it in this one too.

[bananas]

5. Risk factors are correlational and not necessarily causal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_factor

[starroute]

6. My cousin took up smoking in the mental hospital after he developed schizophrenia

I asked him about it and he said it was because being there was so boring and there was nothing else to do. But now I suspect there was more of a direct relationship.

This was back in the Sixties, before there were all the current anti-psychotic drugs, so that wouldn't have been a factor.