Epidemiology and genetics of schizophrenia

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Abstract
Although geneticists studying schizophrenia have made great advances by means of quasi‐experimental studies of twins and of adoptees and their parents, epidemiologic studies of broader populations are now called for to investigate the role of social factors together with genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia. To form a productive partnership, epidemiology and genetics must not only build on their separate achievements but also overcome problems in their research methods. One problem is that studies limited to treated cases may yield biased results. Second, in the past, variations in diagnostic criteria have led to confusing results in both genetic and epidemiologic research. It is proposed that future research use improved epidemiologic procedures now available and build on the strong epidemiologic finding of an inverse relation between social class and prevalence of schizophrenia to test genetic models by investigating class‐specific rates of disorder in particular kinds of relatives