Toxoplasmosis infection and schizophrenia: Elevated IgM reactivity index as a predictor of symptom worsening in chronic schizophrenia

IF 3.6 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Schizophrenia Research Pub Date : 2025-03-14 DOI:10.1016/j.schres.2025.03.008

Pedro H.P. Alvim , Victoria C. Cavalari , Ana J. Bianchini , Gabriela Ferreira Frizon , Gabriela Mourao Ferreira , Helena Fabiane Huth Savian , Isabela Drehmer , Jéferson Ferraz Goularte , Luiz F.C. Garcia , Marcelo Carriello , Mariane Noto , Monise Costanzi , Rafael Amaral Donassolo , Vanessa Ota , Vitória G. Berlitz , Cristiano Noto , Sintia Belangero , Ary Gadelha , Clarissa S. Gama , Letusa Albrecht , Raffael Massuda

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The association between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis has been studied for decades; however, most studies have small sample sizes, and few have investigated the relationship between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia symptoms. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of toxoplasmosis seropositivity between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls in a large Brazilian sample and to investigate the association between IgM and IgG reactivity index (RI) and the severity of schizophrenia symptoms. A multicenter, cross-sectional study assessed Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale from patients, seropositivity to toxoplasmosis as well as serointensity (RI) of IgM and IgG from blood samples of 705 subjects: 313 healthy controls and 392 schizophrenia patients (313 chronic patients and 76 first episode of psychosis). The prevalence of seropositivity to toxoplasmosis was higher in schizophrenia than in controls (OR of 1.52, 95 % CI 1.11–2.07, p = .008), especially in those in FEP (OR = 1.99, 95 % CI 1.02–2.97, p = .042). Also, IgM RI was positively associated with the PANSS total (p = .012, R² = 0.17), positive (p = .017, R² = 0.17), and general scores (p = .018, R² = 0.14) in chronic patients. Toxoplasmosis is associated with schizophrenia, especially in patients in their first psychotic episode; moreover, RI of IgM was positively associated with the severity of the psychosis in chronic patients, which suggests that new infection may worsen symptomatology.

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来源期刊

Schizophrenia Research 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

8.90%

发文量

429

审稿时长

10.2 weeks

期刊介绍： As official journal of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) Schizophrenia Research is THE journal of choice for international researchers and clinicians to share their work with the global schizophrenia research community. More than 6000 institutes have online or print (or both) access to this journal - the largest specialist journal in the field, with the largest readership! Schizophrenia Research''s time to first decision is as fast as 6 weeks and its publishing speed is as fast as 4 weeks until online publication (corrected proof/Article in Press) after acceptance and 14 weeks from acceptance until publication in a printed issue. The journal publishes novel papers that really contribute to understanding the biology and treatment of schizophrenic disorders; Schizophrenia Research brings together biological, clinical and psychological research in order to stimulate the synthesis of findings from all disciplines involved in improving patient outcomes in schizophrenia.