Ansari-Lari Maryam, Farashbandi Hassan, Mohammadi Fahimeh
Department of Food Hygiene and Public Heath, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Trop Med Int Health. 2017 Oct;22(10):1322-1327. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12933. Epub 2017 Aug 11.
To investigate the association between schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii, and to assess the association of infection with suicide attempts and age of onset of schizophrenia in these patients.
Case-control study Fars Province, southern Iran. Cases were individuals with psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia as per Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Controls were healthy blood donors, frequency-matched with patients according to age and sex. For the detection of IgG antibodies, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used. Data about demographic information in all subjects and duration of illness and history of suicide attempts in patients with schizophrenia were collected using a brief questionnaire and hospital records. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression were used for statistical analyses.
Among 99 cases, 42 individuals (42%) were positive for T. gondii antibody, vs. 41 (27%) among 152 controls (OR = 2, 95% CI: 1.2-3.4, P = 0.012). We compared the suicide attempts in patients with schizophrenia based on their T. gondii serologic status. There was a lower rate of suicide attempts in seropositive male patients than seronegative ones (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1-0.97, P = 0.04). Age of onset of schizophrenia did not differ between T. gondii-infected and non-infected patients.
These findings may have implications for schizophrenia and suicide prevention programmes. However, clearly further studies are required to confirm them.
研究精神分裂症与弓形虫之间的关联，并评估弓形虫感染与这些患者自杀未遂及精神分裂症发病年龄之间的关联。
在伊朗南部的法尔斯省进行病例对照研究。病例为根据《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》（DSM-IV）标准被诊断为精神分裂症的个体。对照为健康献血者，根据年龄和性别与患者进行频率匹配。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）检测IgG抗体。通过简短问卷和医院记录收集所有受试者的人口统计学信息以及精神分裂症患者的病程和自杀未遂史。使用卡方检验和多变量逻辑回归进行统计分析。
99例病例中，42例（42%）弓形虫抗体呈阳性，而152例对照中有41例（27%）呈阳性（比值比 = 2，95%置信区间：1.2 - 3.4，P = 0.012）。我们根据弓形虫血清学状态比较了精神分裂症患者的自杀未遂情况。血清学阳性的男性患者自杀未遂率低于血清学阴性患者（比值比 = 0.3，95%置信区间：0.1 - 0.97，P = 0.04）。弓形虫感染患者与未感染患者的精神分裂症发病年龄无差异。
这些发现可能对精神分裂症和自杀预防项目有启示意义。然而，显然需要进一步研究来证实这些发现。
