Fertility and marital rates in first-onset schizophrenia

Background: Many studies have demonstrated that in schizophrenia there are decreased rates of marriage, fertility and marital fertility. However, it i s not clear whether this finding occurs as a social consequence of having t he illness or is an inherent part of the illness. One would expect it to va ry across cultures if it were being mediated by social and cultural factors , Method: We investigated this by reviewing the marital and fertility data from a multi-ethnic first-contact group of patients in London with CATEGO b roadly defined schizophrenia, and comparing this with similar data from a g roup of controls who were matched for age, gender and ethnicity. Results: O ur sample comprised 38 White British, 38 Caribbean and 24 Asian subjects. T he Asian group were significantly older (mean age 38, P < 0.003) and had a greater percentage of females (50%). When compared to controls, the White a nd Caribbean patients, but not the Asians, had decreased marital and stable relationship rates. There was also decreased fertility and marital fertili ty as evidenced by number of children among the Whites and Caribbeans, but again significantly not among the Asians. Marital status did not predict fe rtility rates, particularly among the Caribbeans. Regression analysis demon strated an effect for age on the number of children but not on marital stat us. Conclusions: These findings suggest that marital and reproductive behav iour are reduced in schizophrenia, but this effect may be mediated by socia l and cultural factors and therefore not apply consistently across ethnicit y. Further research is needed to prospectively investigate populations to d etermine whether impairments of this nature are inherent or consequential t o the illness.