Article
Main risk factors for schizophrenia: increased familial loading and pre- and peri-natal complications antagonize the protective effect of oestrogen in women.
Schizophrenia research - 7 Jul 2000
Könnecke R, Häfner H, Maurer K, Löffler W, an der Heiden W
Abstract excerpt
Women fall ill with schizophrenia 3 to 4 years later than men. The neurobiological mechanism, explaining the delay of onset in women until menopause, is presumably due to a sensitivity reducing effect of oestrogen on central d(2) receptors, as we have previously shown in animal experiments and in a controlled clinical study. The gender difference in age at onset seems to disappear in familial cases with...
Topics
- Adolescent
- Adult
- Age Factors
- Estrogens
- Female
- Genetic Predisposition to Disease
- Genetics, Population
- Humans
- Infant, Newborn
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Obstetric Labor Complications
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
- Receptors, Dopamine D2
- Risk Factors
- Schizophrenia
- Sex Factors