Haroon R Chaudhry, Raheel Aziz, Irum Bokharey, Sonia Syed.
Schizophrenia - Inverse Relationship with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Pak J Neurol Jan ;6(1-2):16-9.

The coincidental occurrence of schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis is considered to be low in relationship to the prevalence of the two diseases. The present study was conducted to see the inverse relationship of schizophrenia with rheumatoid arthritis. The sample was drawn from the psychiatric units of Fountain House, Ahbab Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. A questionnaires measuring the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis was administered to 345 schizophrenic patients. Results showed that only 2 patients of schizophrenia were found to be seropositive for rheumatoid arthritis though a greater percentage of patients had a positive family history for the same disease. Possible explanations for the findings may be reduced frequency of trauma or stress to the joints of schizophrenic patients as compared to healthy population. At the same time, involvement of immunoregulatory cytokines may also be considered. Further epidemiological studies involving a greater number of patients are required to confirm and explain the negative association of schizophrenia with rheumatoid arthritis.

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