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Lack of attention linked to schizophrenia: study

"We found that families of schizophrenia patients were 19 to 30 times more likely to exhibit the disease than the rest of the population."

Chen Wei-jen, a professor at National Taiwan University's Institute of Epidemiology

People who have trouble concentrating might be more likely to develop schizophrenia, scientists with the National Science Council said yesterday.

The scientists said that about 1 percent of the human population suffers from schizophrenia, a severe disturbance of brain functions that can incapacitate sufferers mentally and physically.

However, its prevalence has not increased significantly with the industrialization of society, as many have assumed to be the case. In Taiwan, two comprehensive surveys in the 1950s and the 1980s measured the rate of schizophrenia at 0.27 percent, the scientists said.

They said it had become widely accepted in the scientific community that environmental factors combine with genetic predisposition to produce the onset of schizophrenia. Available clinical data suggests that in Taiwan, family members of schizophrenics are 14.4 times more likely to exhibit the disease than the rest of the population.

Normally, sufferers of schizophrenia encounter great difficulties when participating in social activities.

To ease the burden of schizophrenia on both sufferers and those who care for them, the council since 1993 has sponsored research by Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅), a professor at National Taiwan University's Institute of Epidemiology, into the etiology of the condition.

Chen said yesterday that scientists have so far identified 10 specific genes associated with schizophrenic behavior. However, studies of the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia, such as delusions, aberrant behavior and body stiffness have not yielded a consistent genetic pattern.

However, Chen said he had found something interesting about the inability of many schizophrenic patients to concentrate on matters at hand.

According to Chen, 43 percent of schizophrenics tested using the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), a widely used measure for sustainable attention, had problems sustaining their concentration. The examinees were chosen from hospitalized patients.

"Usually only 1 to 3 percent of the general population lack the ability to keep up their concentration," Chen said.

By testing the families of schizophrenic patients who also exhibited an inability to sustain their concentration, Chen found there was a much higher rate of aberrant symptoms -- especially dysfunctional interpersonal behavior and clinical disorganization, or disorganized thinking and speech.

"We found that families of schizophrenia patients were 19 to 30 times more likely to exhibit the disease than the rest of the population," Chen said.

Based on these findings, future genetic studies will focus on comparing schizophrenia patients and their families, Chen said.
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