Shared and unique deficits of social functioning in multiple affected families with major psychiatric illness

Abstract

Background: Mental illnesses often cluster in families, and their impact on affected and unaffected members within families need to be understood from a social perspective. Methods: Data was derived from 202 families with multiple affected individuals, identified under Accelerator program for Discovery in Brain disorders using Stem cells (ADBS) study. Affected individuals (N=259) had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or substance use disorder. For comparison, we used the unaffected siblings from the same families (N=229), and a matched random subset of healthy control (HC) data from the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) (total N=34,802). We compared educational attainment, functional marital status and occupational status between the groups. Results: The groups were matched across age, gender and place of residence. The highest educational attainment was significantly different between the groups. The affected (9.9 years) and unaffected siblings (10.4 years) had poor educational attainment compared to HC (11.6 years), (F=8.97, p<0.001). Similarly the affected (43%) and unaffected siblings (33%) remained more often single, in contrast to HC (23%), (χ2=40.98.17, p<0.001). However, the unaffected siblings (4%) were less unemployed when compared with HC (9%). When comparing gender specific, females had overall lesser educational attainment, were largely married, and were majority homemakers across the three groups when compared to males. Discussion: Our study findings reveal the socio-demographic characteristics of affected and unaffected siblings from multiplex families in Indian context. Affected and unaffected siblings had lower educational attainment and higher marital dysfunction when compared to HC. Whereas, the unaffected siblings were more likely to be in employment compared to HC. Whether the poor educational attainment and marital functioning in unaffected siblings is a biological marker of shared endophenotype or the effect of social burden of having an affected family member requires further systematic evaluation.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This research is funded by the Accelerator program for Discovery in Brain disorders using Stem cells (ADBS) (jointly funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and the Pratiksha trust; Grant BT/PR17316/MED/31/326/2015). BV is funded by the Intermediate (Clinical and Public Health) Fellowship (IA/CPHI/20/1/505266) of the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The studies were approved by the Institutional ethics committee (NIMHANS Ethics committee). NIMHANS Ethics committee gave ethical approval for this work.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript

留言 (0)

沒有登入
gif