The IMPACT OF FAMILIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS ON AGE OF ONSET OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
Main Article Content
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Objectives: 1.To determines impact of familial risk factor i.e. positive family history of schizophrenia on age of onset of schizophrenia.
2. To determine impact of environmental risk factor i.e. substance misuse on age of onset of schizophrenia.
Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional analytical study, 430 patients were enrolled from OPD in Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases Peshawar through convenience non probability sampling technique. First Data was dichotomized on the basis of positive and negative family history of schizophrenia. Later on data was again dichotomized on the basis of positive and negative history of substance misuse. Frequency and percentage were calculated for categorical variable while mean and standard deviation for continuous variables. Independent-samples T test was used while comparing categorical variable with continuous variable and Chi-square test was used while comparing two categorical variables in between them.
Results: The mean age of onset of schizophrenia was 22.28 years with early onset in males than females. In those with familial schizophrenia, the mean ages of onset of schizophrenia in males and females were 22.35 and 22.05 years while in those with sporadic cases, the mean age of onset of schizophrenia in males and females were 21.83 and 25.43 years respectively. Moreover non-tobacco substances and cannabinoids were having statistically significant impact on age of onset of schizophrenia.
Conclusion: There was significant gender difference in age at onset of schizophrenia and substance misuse. Family history of schizophrenia eliminates the gender difference in age at onset of schizophrenia. Moreover non-tobacco substances and cannabinoids misuse can cause early onset of schizophrenia.
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Under the CC BY 4.0 license, author(s) retain the ownership of the copyright publishing rights without restrictions for their content, and allow others to copy, use, print, share, modify, and distribute the content of the article even for commercial purposes as long as the original authors and the journal are properly cited. No permission is required from the author/s or the publishers for this purpose. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article. The corresponding author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide license to JMS and its licensees in all forms, formats, and media (whether known now or created in the future), The corresponding author must certify and warrant the authorship and proprietorship and should declare that he/she has not granted or assigned any of the article’s rights to any other person or body.
The corresponding author must compensate the journal for any costs, expenses, or damages that the JMS may incur as a result of any breach of these warranties including any intentional or unintentional errors, omissions, copyright issues, or plagiarism. The editorial office must be notified upon submission if an article contains materials like text, pictures, tables, or graphs from other copyrighted sources. The JMS reserves the right to remove any images, figures, tables, or other content, from any article, whether before or after publication, if concerns are raised about copyright, license, or permissions and the authors are unable to provide documentation confirming that appropriate permissions were obtained for publication of the content in question.