Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:57-62
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
A family study of the subtypes of schizophrenia
KS Kendler, AM Gruenberg and MT Tsuang
Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298.
The authors conducted a blind family study based on probands diagnosed as
schizophrenic by DSM-III and subtyped by four diagnostic systems. The
pattern of psychopathology in relatives did not differ as a function of the
probands' subtype diagnosis. Relatives of paranoid and nonparanoid
schizophrenic probands had similar risks for schizophrenia and affective
illness. Resemblance in subtype diagnosis between probands and their
affected relatives did not exceed chance expectation. The etiologic role of
familial factors appears to be similar in each of the traditional subtypes
of schizophrenia. No evidence was found for familial factors specific for
individual subtypes.
