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Familial Psychiatric Illness and Obstetric Complications in Early-Onset Affective Disorder

A Case-Control Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christian Guth
Affiliation:
Wagner-Jauregg-Krankenhaus, Linz, Austria
Peter Jones*
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital, London
Robin Murray
Affiliation:
King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
Genetics Section, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF

Abstract

Early-onset affective disorder is associated with obstetric complications and a high familial risk of psychiatric illness, in particular psychosis. In a matched case-control study, we investigated 47 adult in-patients with major depressive disorder or bipolar 1 disorder, who had earlier in life presented to a child psychiatry department. Cases were matched on sex, social class and ethnic group with 47 controls, who were admitted to hospital for affective disorders in adult life but had no psychiatric contact before the age of 21. We found that both psychiatric disorder in first-degree relatives and a history of obstetric complications were associated with early onset. Childhood symptoms did not predict the type of adult affective disorder.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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