Marital and Sexual Satisfaction among Patients with Schizophrenia / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to assess marital and sexual satisfaction among patients with schizophrenia compared to the general population and to evaluate the factors that may affect these levels. METHODS: Marital and sexual satisfaction of 66 married schizophrenic patients and 162 married normal controls were assessed with Enriching and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness and Derogatis Sexual Function Inventory. We compared the differences in marital and sexual satisfaction and influential variables between these two groups through analysis of covariance with adjustment for age and the duration of marriage. Factors associated with marital and sexual satisfaction were identified with multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Patients with schizophrenia showed lower satisfaction with their marriage (p=0.018) and sexual lives (p<0.001) compared to the controls. Marital satisfaction of schizophrenics was influenced by violence from spouse, whereas their sexual satisfaction was affected by age, violence from spouse, conversation frequency after sexual relations, and revealing psychiatric history to spouse before marriage. There was a significant relationship between marital and sexual satisfaction in both groups. CONCLUSION: Patients with schizophrenia may have marital and sexual problems which can be caused directly or indirectly by symptoms and course of the disease. These results suggest that evaluation and appropriate intervention in the marriage and sexual lives of schizophrenics is necessary and important.

Association between Prostaglandin-endoperoxide Synthase 2 (PTGS2) Polymorphisms and Blood Pressure in Korean Population

Blood pressure refers to the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and chronical elevation of blood pressure is known as hypertension. Although hypertension is affected by genetic and environmental factors, the genetic background of hypertension is not fully understood. One of the candidate genetic factors, Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2), is a membrane-bound enzyme, catalyzing the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin, and recently SNPs of PTGS2 gene was associated with hypertension in Japanese population. Therefore the association of PTGS2 polymorphisms was investigated with blood pressure in healthy Korean subjects, 470 unrelated individuals randomly selected from Ansung and Ansan cohorts. The 25 SNPs of PTGS2 gene were identified by the sequencing analysis of 24 Korean samples. Among identified polymorphisms, three SNPs (rs689466, -1329A>G; rs5275, +6365T>C; rs4648308, +8806G> A) were selected for further association analysis, and rs689466 located in promoter region was associated with blood pressure as well as triglyceride level in the blood. By in silico analysis, rs689466 locates in v-Myb transcription factor binding site, and the v-Myb site disappears when the SNP is changed from A to G nucleotide. Individuals with A/G and G/G genotype in rs689466 have higher blood pressure than those with A/A genotype, and the regression p-value is 0.008 for systolic and 0.004 for diastolic blood pressure. In summary, the PTGS2 polymorphism (rs689466) is associated with blood pressure in Asian populations based on this and Japanese studies, shedding light on it as a genetic risk marker of hypertension.

Association of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) single nucleotide polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes mellitus

The etiology and pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are not completely understood although it is often associated with other conditions such as obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is a key enzyme in human lipid metabolism that facilitates the removal of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from the bloodstream. LPL hydrolyzes the core of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (chylomicrons and very low density lipoprotein) into free fatty acids and monoacylglycerol. To gain insight into the possible role of LPL in T2DM, nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of LPL were analyzed for the association with T2DM using 944 unrelated Koreans, including 474 T2DM subjects and 470 normal healthy controls. Of the nine LPL SNPs we analyzed, a significant association with multiple tests by the false discovery rate (FDR) was observed between T2DM and SNP rs343 (+13836C>A in intron 3). SNP rs343 was also marginally associated with some of T2DM-related phenotypes including total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), and log transformed glycosylated hemoglobin in 470 normal controls, although no significant association was detected by multiple tests. In total, our results suggest that the control of lipid level by LPL in the bloodstream might be an important factor in T2DM pathogenesis in the Korean population.