Retinitis pigmentosa and schizophrenia

There have been previous suggestions in the literature of a link between sc hizophrenia and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or its associated syndromes. In t his article, we describe two cases of schizophrenia and two cases of delusi onal disorder occurring in patients with RP. We explore possible reasons fo r an association between RP and schizophrenia including shared genetic pred isposition, sensory deprivation, coarse brain disease and retinoid dysregul ation. Awareness of an association may help to direct future research into the aetiology of these disorders, especially in the areas of neurochemistry and medical genetics. (C) 1998 Elsevier, Paris.