Epilepsy increases schizophrenia risk

History of epilepsy doubles the risk of developing schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like psychosis. Researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark found that numerous reports have linked epilepsy with schizophrenia, but there has been limited data from large-scale studies. The researchers therefore assessed the link between the two disorders by analyzing data from 2.27 million people who were born in Denmark between 1950 and 1987. A history of epilepsy raised the risk of schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis by 2.48 and 2.93 fold, respectively. The impact of epilepsy on schizophrenia risk was the same for men and women, and it increased with age. The type of epilepsy did not make a difference, but the risk of schizophrenia was strongest in subjects lacking a family history of psychosis. An increasing number of hospital admissions for epilepsy, and epilepsy onset later in life, were particularly strong risk factors for schizophrenia. The findings suggest corroborate previous results indicating a strong link between these two conditions."