الفهرس 
SCHIZOPHRENIA: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND ETIOLOGYOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Schizophrenia is manifested as disturbed thinking, perception, belief, language, and social activities that occur during late adolescence or early adulthood and persist throughout the life of the affected individuals. Immune system dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The inflammatory immune response regulated by cytokines may contribute to the psychopathology of schizophrenia through multidimensional mechanisms affecting neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity, and neurotransmission.
Aim of the Work: The goal of our study was to compare the serum concentrations of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients with first-episode treatment-naive patients with schizophrenia with healthy individuals to analyze the correlations between the cytokine concentrations and Schizophrenia. The study also aimed to study the correlation between serum levels of interleukin-6 with the positive and negative symptoms in the patients with Schizophrenia.
Subjects and Methods: This was a comparative case-control descriptive cross-sectional study. The study was conducted at general adult outpatient clinic at Okasha Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain-Shams University. Ain Shams University is located in Eastern Cairo and serves a catchment area of about the third of Greater Cairo. It serves boh urban and rural areas including areas around Greater Cairo as well.
Results: There was high statistically significant difference between the studied groups as regard occupation The mean age at illness onset of the studied cases was 28.1 (±7.26 SD), the mean duration of illness was 2.8 (±1.32 SD) and there were 14 (70%) with family history of psychotic disorders. The mean PANSS positive subscore of the studied cases was 34.85 (±8.34 SD), the PANSS negative subscore was 30.35 (±5.34 SD), the mean PANSS general subscore was 27.8 (±13.24 SD) and the mean PANSS total score was 93 (±16.63 SD). According to DSM-IV all group A had mental health problem and group B no one had mental health problem. There was statistically significant difference between the studied groups as regard serum IL-6.
Conclusion: We found positive correlation between the cytokine concentrations and Schizophrenia, also, a positive correlation between serum levels of interleukin-6 with the positive and negative symptoms in the patients with Schizophrenia.