Symptom dimensions as alternative phenotypes to address genetic heterogeneity in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

ABSTRACT: This study introduces a novel way to use the lifetime ratings of symptoms of psychosis, mania and depression in genetic linkage analysis of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BP). It suggests using a latent class model developed for family data to define more homogeneous symptom subtypes that are influenced by a smaller number of genes that will thus be more easily detectable. In a two-step approach, we proposed: (i) to form homogeneous clusters of subjects based on the symptom dimensions and (ii) to use the information from these homogeneous clusters in linkage analysis. This framework was applied to a unique SZ and BP sample composed of 1278 subjects from 48 large kindreds from the Eastern Quebec population. The results suggest that our strategy has the power to increase linkage si

SUBMITTER: Labbe A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3476706 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature