Is latent Toxoplasma gondii infection associated with the occurrence of schizophrenia? A case-control study.
PLoS One
; 17(6): e0270377, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1910679
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Neurotropic pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) which result in chronic infections in the brain are associated with mental illnesses. In view of this, a growing body of literature has revealed the possible interaction of schizophrenia and T. gondii infection.METHOD:
A case-control study was conducted from February 2018 to January 2019 among 47 Schizophrenia patients and 47 age and sex-matched controls. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Serum was used for serological analysis of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies through chemiluminescent immunoassay. Proportions and mean with standard deviations (SD) were used as descriptive measures and variables with p-values <0.05 were considered as statistically significant and independently associated with schizophrenia.RESULT:
The mean ages of schizophrenia patients and controls were 29.64 ± 5.8 yrs and 30.98 ± 7.3 yrs, respectively. We found that 81.9% (77/94) of the study subjects had a positive anti-T. gondii IgG antibody. While the difference is statistically insignificant, schizophrenic patients have a marginally higher seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis than controls (87.2% vs 80.9%; p = 0.398). Schizophrenia cases who live in homes with soil floors have a significantly higher T. gondii infection as compared to those who live in homes with cement/ceramic floors (90.9% vs 33.3%; p = 0.004). Furthermore, there was a significantly lower T. gondii infection among schizophrenic cases who were taking antipsychotic medication for more than three yrs (79.3% vs 100.0%, p = 0.039). On the other hand, among all study subjects who have T. gondii infection, subjects who are addicted to khat and alcohol were about seven times more likely to develop schizophrenia (71.4% vs 47.7%, OR = 7.13, p = 0.024).CONCLUSION:
Our data is not sufficient to show a significant positive correlation between T. gondii infection and schizophrenia. For study subjects with T. gondii infection, addiction to khat and alcohol is one of the risk factors for schizophrenia.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Schizophrenia
/
Toxoplasma
/
Toxoplasmosis
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
Science
/
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Journal.pone.0270377
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS