Scientists Identify New Schizophrenia Risk Genes in First-of-Its-Kind Study - ScienceAlert

It revealed rare harmful variations in gene proteins raise the risk of schizophrenia in all ethnic groups.

To come to their findings, the team conducted a meta-analysis that included 35,828 cases and 107,877 controls obtained from previously published datasets.

"Also significant: studying people of various ancestral backgrounds, we found that rare damaging variants in evolutionarily constrained genes confer a similar magnitude of schizophrenia risk among those different populations and that genetic factors previously established in predominantly white people have now been extended to non-whites for this debilitating disease."

Usually starting in late adolescence or early adulthood and affecting around 7 in 1,000 people, it shortens a person's life by almost 15 years, according to statistics.

For many people, schizophrenia is well managed with treatment but the current medications don't work for everyone, symptoms and side effects vary and more research is needed.

The researchers plan to further investigate the clinical implications of these newly discovered genes on specific schizophrenia symptoms or behaviors and identify potential medications to target them.