FERTILITY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - RESULTS FROM A CONTEMPORARY US COHORT

To investigate procreation in schizophrenia, as well as gender-related differences, female patients with schizophrenia (n=79, DSM-III-R crit eria) were compared with screened female controls (n=124) and subseque ntly with male patients (n=86). Two outcomes were investigated: (i) th e proportion of subjects with one or more children (an index of fertil ity) and (ii) the number of children per subject among those with one or more children (an index of fecundity). Multivariate analysis was us ed to control for confounding variables. No significant differences in fertility between female patients and controls were detected, but red uced fecundity was noted among female patients past the reproductive p eriod. Male patients showed a significant reduction in both fertility and fecundity compared to female patients. These results suggest that there is a relatively small impairment of fecundity among female patie nts compared with controls, but that there are more significant gender -related differences in both fertility and fecundity. The latter have important implications for the genetics of schizophrenia.