• Researchers develop a new method for predicting the onset of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia.

 

About the Research

The research team working on psychosis research comes from the University of North Carolina. The research findings from this study are available in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Psychosis Detection in Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects around 1% of adolescents and young adults. Even though it affects a small part of the population the disorder is highly debilitating for patients. This is because it can affect an individual’s social and emotional well-being and cause more permanent issues like psychosis.

Researchers working on this study discovered that they can use a polygenic risk score (PRS) to predict psychosis onset. Furthermore, they combine the results from the test with the data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Through this, they are able to determine a polygenic risk score that helps them predict when psychosis will occur. Also, with such tests, medical workers could make better plans for prevention and treatment.

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Limitations
  • The test is based on Europeans as a test sample it needs to be corrected for none- Europeans.

 

Sources

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/uonc-prs111119.php

http://www.med.unc.edu/