Abstract

BackgroundSerious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been associated with environmental exposures in early life. Contact with household pets such as cats and dogs can serve as a source of environmental exposure during these time periods.MethodsWe investigated the relationship between exposure to a household pet cat or dog during the first 12 years of life and having a subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. These studies were performed in a cohort of 396 individuals with schizophrenia, 381 with bipolar disorder, and 594 controls. The hazards of developing schizophrenia or bipolar disorder associated with first exposure to a household pet cat or dog were calculated using Cox Proportional Hazard and multivariate logistic regression models including socio-demographic covariates.ResultsWe found that exposure to a household pet dog was associated with a significantly decreased hazard of having a subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia (Hazard Ratio .75, p < .002) Furthermore, a significant decreased relative risk of schizophrenia was detected following exposure at birth and during the first years of life. There was no significant relationship between household exposure to a pet dog and bipolar disorder. There were no significant associations between exposure to a household pet cat and subsequent risk of either a schizophrenia or bipolar disorder diagnosis. However, there were trends towards an increased risk of both disorders at defined periods of exposure.ConclusionsExposure to household pets during infancy and childhood may be associated with altered rates of development of psychiatric disorders in later life.

Highlights

  • Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are serious neuropsychiatric disorders with extensive morbidity and mortality worldwide

  • We investigated the relationship between exposure to a household pet cat or dog during the first 12 years of life and having a subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

  • We found that exposure to a household pet dog was associated with a significantly decreased hazard of having a subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia (Hazard Ratio .75, p < .002) a significant decreased relative risk of schizophrenia was detected following exposure at birth and during the first years of life

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are serious neuropsychiatric disorders with extensive morbidity and mortality worldwide. Extensive genetic studies of both disorders have found a large number of genomic regions associated with increased risk; few genes of large effect have been identified and there are substantial differences relating to genetic risk factors among different populations [1]. Household exposures during this time period are likely to be shared among family members and this might contribute to apparent familial associations of disease risk [2, 3]. Serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been associated with environmental exposures in early life. Contact with household pets such as cats and dogs can serve as a source of environmental exposure during these time periods

Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call