Investigating if psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) are associated with family history of schizophrenia or paternal age in the ALSPAC birth cohort

Abstract

Psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) occur in about 15% of the population, but it is unclear to what extent PLIKS share aetiological mechanisms in common with those for schizophrenia. We examined whether the presence of PLIKS was associated with a family history of schizophrenia (FH-SCZ), or with advancing paternal age, using data from 6356 children in the ALSPAC birth cohort who participated in a semi-structured PLIKS interview at 12 years of age. We found no evidence of association between FH-SCZ and suspected or definite PLIKS (adjusted OR = 0.94, 95%CI 0.44, 2.00; p = 0.880). There was weak evidence that advancing paternal age was associated with increased PLIKS (adjusted OR per 10-year age i..