Family history of autoimmune diseases in psychosis

The mothers of 101 psychotic patients and 116 normal controls were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire designed to determine the presence or absence of autoimmune disorders in first degree relatives of the probands. Thyrotoxicosis and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were significantly more common in the relatives of the psychotic patients than in the control relatives; in particular thyrotoxicosis was more frequent in the mothers of patients (11%) than the mothers of controls (2.6%). None of the examined characteristics of the patients, including RDC-diagnosis, family history of psychosis, age at onset of psychosis and winter birth, was predictive of thyrotoxicosis and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in relatives.