Descriptive study of cases of schizophrenia in the Malian population

Abstract

Background Schizophrenia is a relatively common disease worldwide with a point prevalence of around 5/1000 in the population. The aim of this present work was to assess the demographic, clinical, familial, and environmental factors associated with schizophrenia in Mali. Methods This was a prospective descriptive study on a series of 164 patients aged at least 12 years who came for a follow-up consultation at the psychiatry department of the University Hospital Center (CHU) Point G in Mali between February 2019 and January 2020 for schizophrenia spectrum disorder as defined by DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Results Our results revealed that the male sex was predominant (80.5%). The 25–34 age group was more represented with 44.5%. The place of birth for the majority of our patients was the urban area (52.4%), which also represented the place of the first year of life for the majority of our patients (56.1%). We noted that the unemployed and single people accounted for 56.1 and 61% respectively. More than half of our patients 58.5% reported having reached secondary school level. With the exception of education level, there was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of demographic parameters. Familial schizophrenia cases accounted for 51.7% versus 49.3% for non-familial cases. The different clinical forms were represented by the paranoid form, followed by the undifferentiated form, and the hebephrenic form with respectively 34, 28 and 17.1%. We noted that almost half (48.8%) of patients were born during the cold season. Cannabis use history was not observed in 68.7% of the patients. The proportions of patients with an out-of-school father or an out-of-school mother were 51.2 and 64.2%, respectively. Conclusion The onset of schizophrenia in the Malian population has been associated with socio-demographic, clinical, genetic and environmental characteristics.

A comprehensive update on genetic inheritance, epigenetic factors, associated pathology, and recent therapeutic intervention by gene therapy in schizophrenia

“…With nearly 30% of patients having consanguineous biological parents, the heritability of the risk variants was statistically verified. The study also revealed the history of 69% of patients with no cannabis use and 54% of patients who stayed abroad more than once in their lifetime (Coulibaly et al., 2021).…”

“…Recently, Coulibaly et al. (2021) made an astounding revelation in their study on the Malian population in 2020 regarding the disorder frequency in both sexes. With the male population at a surprising 80.5% (132 out of 164) and females accounting for 19.5% (32 out of 164).…”

“…Studies on models of druginduced psychosis have shown that decreased BDNF mRNA concentrations are associated with the onset of psychosis. Recently, Coulibaly et al (2021) made an astounding revelation in their study on the Malian population in 2020 regarding the disorder frequency in both sexes. With the male population at a surprising 80.5% (132 out of 164) and females accounting for 19.5% (32 out of 164).…”

Socio-demographic characteristics of patients with negative and positive symptoms in schizophrenia

“…Також визначається, що сімейний стан, професійні навички, фізичні вправи та соціальна підтримка впливали на якість життя пацієнтів з шизофренією [19]. Доведено, що початок шизофренії пов'язаний із соціально-демографічними, клінічними, генетичними та екологічними характеристиками [20].…”