Morbid risk for psychiatric disorder among the relatives of methamphetamine users with and without psychosis

Abstract

It is not clear why some methamphetamine (MAMP) abusers develop psychotic symptoms, while others use MAMP regularly over long periods and remain unscathed. We tested the hypotheses that those users who develop MAMP-induced psychosis (MIP) have greater familial loading for psychotic disorders than users with no psychosis. Four hundred forty-five MAMP users were recruited from a psychiatric hospital and a detention center in Taipei, and were assessed with the Diagnostic Interview for genetic studies (DIGS-C) and the Family Interview for genetic study (FIGS-C). Morbid risk (MR) for psychiatric disorders in first-degree relatives was compared between those MAMP users with a lifetime diagnosis of MAMP psychosis and those without. The relatives of MAMP users with a lifetime diagnosis of MAMP psychosis had a significantly higher MR for schizophrenia (OR = 5.4, 95% CI: 2.0-14.7, P < 0.001) than the relatives of those probands who never became psychotic. Furthermore, the MR for schizophrenia in the relatives of the subjects with a prolonged MAMP psychosis (MIP-P) was higher than in the relatives of those users with a brief MAMP psychosis (MIP-B) (OR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.0-8.0, P = 0.042). The greater his or her familial loading for schizophrenia, the more likely a MAMP user is to develop psychosis, and the longer that psychosis is likely to last.

Neurocognitive Effects of Methamphetamine: A Critical Review and Meta-analysis

“…Psychosis, including both negative and positive symptoms, is more likely to occur in MA abusing individuals compared to nonabusing populations, even after adjusting for history of psychotic disorders (Buffenstein et al 1999;Harris and Batki 2000;Iwanami et al 1994;McKetin et al 2006;Srisurapanont et al 2003). This psychosis is more likely to be seen in MA dependent injection users (Hall et al 1996;McKetin et al 2006), but individuals with predispositions to psychotic symptoms, including schizotypal or schizoid traits and family histories of psychotic disorders, also have an increased risk of MA-associated psychosis (Chen et al 2003(Chen et al , 2005. The presence of psychosis is usually transient, occurring during use or withdrawal and normally abating in a period of days.…”

Primary and substance-induced psychotic disorders in methamphetamine users

“…A younger age of first MA use, use of larger amounts of MA, the presence of schizoid/schizotypal personality traits and major depressive depression, alcohol dependence and antisocial personality disorder were associated with an increased risk of a lifetime MA-induced psychotic disorder. Those with a MA-induced psychotic disorder were also five times more likely to have a family history of schizophrenia than those without psychosis (Chen et al, 2005). Glasner-Edwards et al (2008) examined the outcomes of a treated sample of MAdependent individuals (n=526) with (n=68; 13%) and without (n=458; 86%) a lifetime history of a psychotic disorder diagnosed at 3-year follow-up on the MINI.…”

A review of the clinical pharmacology of methamphetamine

“…A familial history of psychotic illness may be associated with persistent methamphetamine psychosis. Individuals with psychotic symptoms persisting for more than 1 month after withdrawal are three times more likely to have a family history of schizophrenia than those exhibiting shorter psychoses [69]. Methamphetamine-related psychosis is also associated with gene variations affecting a range of protein complexes [70].…”