Racial-ethnic disparities in empirically-derived subtypes of subclinical psychosis among a U.S. sample of youths

Abstract

Introduction Racial-ethnic minority status is a consistent risk factor for schizophrenia, with associations extending to bipolar disorder and subthreshold psychotic experiences. However, few epidemiologic studies have been conducted in the U.S., and evidence is inconsistent. Furthermore, no U.S. studies of youths have directly investigated the phenomenological overlap between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We aimed to do so at the subthreshold level in the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Methods Participants included 6533 individuals, age 11–21 years, from a community healthcare network. Latent class analysis was used to form subtypes of sub-psychosis based on 12 attenuated positive items and 7 mania items without duration criteria. Associations between race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, “other”) and sub-psychosis subtype were estimated using latent class regression. Results Four classes were identified: Sub-positive Only (13.4%), Mania Only (15.5%), Both (9.1%), and Neither (62.0%). Minority participants were generally more likely than non-Hispanic whites to belong to one of the three sub-psychosis classes compared to the Neither class. Associations for Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks remained after adjustment for age, sex, and maternal education, and restriction to participants without significant physical health conditions. Racial-ethnic disparities were greater in magnitude for the two classes characterized by sub-positive symptoms, Sub-positive Only and Both, than for the Mania Only class. This pattern was statistically significant among non-Hispanic blacks. Conclusions We found evidence for racial-ethnic disparities in empirically-derived subtypes of subthreshold psychosis, broadly defined, among U.S. youths. Further research is needed to determine whether these disparities persist to the clinical disorder level in adulthood.

Ethnic minority position and migrant status as risk factors for psychotic symptoms in the general population: a meta-analysis

“…After duplicates were removed, a total of 2013 articles were identified through the electronic database research. Three articles (Scott et al ., 2006; Calkins et al ., 2014; DeVylder et al ., 2014) were excluded, as they used data reported in other studies (Saha et al ., 2013; Oh et al ., 2015; Paksarian et al ., 2016). Twenty-three articles identified through a database search met the inclusion criteria, and one was identified through a hand search of reference lists from identified articles.…”

Replication of Associations With Psychotic-Like Experiences in Middle Childhood From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

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Determinants of Schizophrenia Endophenotypes Based on Neuroimaging and Biochemical Parameters

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