Alcohol and cannabis use in Urban, African American, first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum patients: associations with positive and negative symptoms.

Objective: On the basis of limited prior research on associations between symptoms and substance use in first-episode psychosis, a retrospective chart review was conducted to test 2 hypotheses: (1) the presence of positive symptoms is associated with alcohol use prior to admission and (2) the absence of prominent negative symptoms is associated with cannabis use prior to admission.

Method: Eligible patients included those admitted for a first episode of psychosis in a public-sector, university-affiliated hospital that serves a predominantly African American, socially disadvantaged, urban population. The 72 patients included in the analysis were 18 to 40 years of age, and all were African American.

Age of menarche and schizophrenia onset in women.

Objective: The "estrogen hypothesis" posits that this hormone serves as a protective factor in the development of schizophrenia. If true, then it is expected that the earlier the age of menarche, the later the onset of schizophrenia (as has been reported by some investigators). This study attempts to replicate this relationship in a sample of women with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

Schizophrenia: etiology and course.

Decades of research on schizophrenia have not produced major breakthroughs, but gradual progress has been made in identifying risk factors and clarifying the nature of the etiologic process. This article provides an overview of trends in research findings as well as current assumptions about the interplay between environmental and genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia. Based on the cumulative findings, it appears that both genetic and prenatal factors can give rise to constitutional vulnerability.