Acute phase proteins and personality disorders in schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction:Interest in the premorbid personality of schizophrenic patients is well established in the psychiatric literature. The relationship between personality disorders and acute phase proteins (APP) in schizophrenia is not well known.Aim:Investigating the relationship among acute phase proteins and personality disorders in schizophrenic patients in a sample of adult schizophrenic patients under psychiatric treatment in a general hospital health setting.Material and Methods:37 adult paranoid schizophrenics undergoing treatment in the University Hospital of the Canary Islands with DSM-IV diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia are included. Years from onset 9.20 s.d. 6.29, age at onset 19.75 s.d. 4.73. The record of personality disorders as a secondary diagnosis in the medical chart was taking into account. A blood sample as routine standard analysis was carried out in each patient.Results:In 21 patients (56.7%) a personality disorder, mainly with paranoid and schizotypal traits, was registered. The percentage of each personality disorder is as follows, Schizotypal (16.2%), Paranoid (13.5%), Schizoid (2.7%), Paranoid and Schizotypal (24.3%). The results point to no significant correlation according to APP (C3, C4, alpha2-macroglobulin, alpha1-glicoprotein, ceruloplasmin) in the different diagnostic groups.Discussion and conclusions:In our study there is no evidence to support a significant correlation among APP and the different personality disorders in our sample of schizophrenics in spite of a positive correlation of APP and some psychopathology dimensions that has been communicated earlier elsewhere. In order to set some possible specificity of acute phase proteins and other clinical features in schizophrenia further research is required.