Risk Factors for Schizophrenia
Condition InDepth
A risk factor is something that raises a person's chances of getting a disease or health problem. A person can have schizophrenia with or without the risks listed below. The more risks a person has, the greater the chances are.
Schizophrenia tends to run in families. The risk if higher if a parent, brother, or sister has schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Other things that raise the risk are:
- Drug use—Includes illegal drugs and marijuana during teen and young adult years.
- Father's age is older than 55 years before birth.
- Stressful family events such as:
- Death or loss of family member
- Being migrant or refugee
- Childhood abuse
- A parent with a drug or alcohol abuse disorder
- Problems at or before birth. May include bleeding, infection, or poor food resources for mother during pregnancy. Lack of oxygen, infection, early birth, or low birth weight for baby.
References
- Schizophrenia. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: https://www.dynamed.com/condition/schizophrenia.
- Schizophrenia. Mental Health America website. Available at: https://www.mhanational.org/conditions/schizophrenia.
- Schizophrenia. National Institute of Mental Health website. Available at:https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia.
- Stilo SA, Murray RM. Non-genetic factors in schizophrenia. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2019;21(10):100.
Contributors
- Adrian Preda, MD
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