Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:244-247
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
Cold agglutinin autoantibodies in psychiatric patients: their relation to diagnosis and pharmacological treatment
B Spivak, M Radwan, J Brandon, A Molcho, R Ohring, S Tyano and A Weizman
Geha Psychiatric Hospital, Petah Tiqva, Israel.
BACKGROUND and METHOD: The purpose of this study was to compare titers of
cold agglutinins in schizophrenic patients with those in patients with
major affective disorders and in normal healthy subjects. One hundred
sixty-six psychiatric patients and 37 healthy comparison subjects were
included in the study. Ninety of the patients suffered from schizophrenia,
54 from bipolar disorder, and 22 from major depression. Venous blood
samples were obtained from all subjects between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and
were immediately tested for cold agglutinin titers. RESULTS: A high
frequency (42.2%) of positive cold agglutinin titers was detected in the
schizophrenic patients, compared with the bipolar (11.1%) and unipolar
(9.0%) patients and the comparison group (8.1%). The investigators did not
find any pharmacological effect on these results. CONCLUSIONS: The findings
suggest that, at least in this group, positive cold agglutinin titers are
associated with schizophrenia. However, this observation cannot provide
direct evidence for the involvement of viral or autoimmune factors in
schizophrenia.
