Do patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and their biological parents have concurrent signs suggestive of Marfan's syndrome? A cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of Marfan's syndrome (MFS) is 2–3/10,000 people, whereas the prevalence of schizophrenia is 100/10,000 people. Although existing literature does not have robust scientific evidence to support such an association, the possibility of such should be explored because patients suffering from MFS do have higher degree of psychiatric comorbidities than the general population. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study randomly recruited 50 patients with schizophrenia and both their biological parents. All patients and controls were examined clinically for mental status examination, ophthalmological evaluation with refraction and slit-lamp examination, anthropometric evaluation for skeletal deformities, and two-dimensional echocardiographic assessment. Results: All the patients had a normal upper segment/lower segment ratio, arm span/height span, slit-lamp examination results, refraction, and aortic root Z score. There was no significant difference in anthropometric measurements and Z scores between genders and between patients and control groups. Conclusion: The study found no co-occurrence of marfanoid features in schizophrenic patients and their biological parents.

Keywords

• marfan's syndrome
• schizophrenia
• slit-lamp microscopy