gottesman

• aim

  To examine how vulnerable the children of two parents with mental illness are to developing a mental illness themselves (parents suffering bipolar disorder and schizophrenia - vulnerability to any mental illness)
• research method

  Cohort study, quasi
• sample

  196 schizophrenic couples and their 270 children. 83 couples with bipolar disorder and their 146 children. Drawn from a population of approx. 2.7 million Danish people born before 1997 with an identifiable mother and father (data sampled in 2007 so minimum age was 10 years) Comparison sample:1 parent with schizophrenia: 8006 couples, 13,878 children1 parent with bipolar: 11,995 couples, 23,152 children
• background of parent's diagnosis

  Parents received diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in accordance with the World Health Organisation's system for classification and diagnosis of mental illness - ICD (International Classification of Disease).
• results

  *For both schizophrenia & bipolar disorder the risk of mental illness was much greater for offspring of two parents with diagnosis

  *27.3% of offspring with schizophrenic parents developed schizophrenia by age 52, 39.2% schizophrenia & related conditions, 67.5% mental illness in general

  *24.95% of offspring with bipolar parents developed bipolar by age 52, 36% bipolar or depression, 44.2% mental illness in general

  *1 schizophrenic parent: 7% schizophrenia, 11.9% any diagnosis

  *1 bipolar parent: 4.4% bipolar, 9.2% mental illness in general
• conclusions

  1. Having both parents with a serious mental illness is associated with a significantly increased risk of developing not only that disorder but mental illness in general.

  2. Having one parent with a serious mental illness carries a lower risk

  3. Findings provide useful information for genetic counselling (involves advising people of their own risks of developing illness, or passing genetic vulnerability onto their children)