Flawed analyses undermine proposed relationship between childhood cat ownership and schizophrenia

Wolf, Peter J.; Hamilton, Francis E.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2015.08.008

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Cat ownership or contact during pregnancy (Kapperud et al 1996; Cook et al 2000) and childhood (Taylor et al 1997) do not appear to be associated with T. Gondii infection, although handling soiled cat litter is known to be associated with infection (Kapperud et al 1996). Epidemiological studies which have reported an association between cat ownership and psychosis - (Torrey & Yolken 1995; Torrey et al 2000, 2015; Yuksel et al 2010), have generally been hindered by notable methodological limitations (Wolf & Hamilton 2015), including reliance on case-control designs that are susceptible to recall bias, small ad hoc samples and weak statistical analyses, which have failed to adequately account for confounding or missing data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curiosity killed the cat: no evidence of an association between cat ownership and psychotic symptoms at ages 13 and 18 years in a UK general population cohort

2017

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BackgroundCongenital or early life infection with Toxoplasma gondii has been implicated in schizophrenia aetiology. Childhood cat ownership has been hypothesized as an intermediary marker of T. gondii infection and, by proxy, as a risk factor for later psychosis. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is, however, limited.MethodWe used birth cohort data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to investigate whether cat ownership in pregnancy and childhood (ages 4 and 10 years) was associated with psychotic experiences (PEs) in early (age 13, N = 6705) and late (age 18, N = 4676) adolescence, rated from semi-structured interviews. We used logistic regression to examine associations between cat ownership and PEs, adjusting for several sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, household characteristics and dog ownership. Missing data were handled via multiple imputation.ResultsCat ownership during pregnancy was not associated with PEs at age 13 years [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97–1.35] or 18 years (OR 1.08, 95% CI 0.86–1.35). Initial univariable evidence that cat ownership at ages 4 and 10 years was associated with PEs at age 13 years did not persist after multivariable adjustment (4 years: OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.94–1.48; 10 years: OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.92–1.36). There was no evidence that childhood cat ownership was associated with PEs at age 18 years.ConclusionsWhile pregnant women should continue to avoid handling soiled cat litter, given possible T. gondii exposure, our study strongly indicates that cat ownership in pregnancy or early childhood does not confer an increased risk of later adolescent PEs.

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