Schizophrenic illness in the families of schizophrenic adoptees: findings from the Danish national sample.

Abstract

The prevalence of schizophrenic illness in the biological and adoptive relatives of schizophrenic adoptees has been examined in a total sample of adoptees in Denmark. The sample was studied in two stages, beginning with the Copenhagen sample of adoptions granted by the courts in the city and county of Copenhagen, and the results have been reported previously. The adoptions granted by the courts in the remainder of Denmark made up the Provincial sample, the preliminary results of which appear to confirm those obtained earlier. Chronic schizophrenia and milder syndromes described as latent, borderline, or uncertain schizophrenia, and in DSM-III as schizotypal personality disorder, were found in both samples to concentrate significantly in the biological relatives of schizophrenic adoptees as compared to their controls, but not in their adoptive relatives. These milder and marginal syndromes resembling schizophrenia occurring in the families of schizophrenic patients confirm the observations of Bleuler and others who succeeded him. Their presence in the biological families of schizophrenic adoptees indicates not only their familial, but also their genetic relationship to schizophrenia, although the specificity of that relationship has not been established.