A lot of people living with schizophrenia don’t respond to their medication, and a new study out of the University of Manitoba may help those cases get recognized sooner.
Dr. Kaarina Kowalec, the lead author, is an assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, and an affiliated researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
The research points to two risk factors associated with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. People who have multiple family members with schizophrenia, or people who have a low intelligence score, have a higher chance of failing drug treatment.
The study looked at data from close to 25,000 Swedish people, and another subgroup of 5,000 people who gave genetic samples. With that information, they found that a person’s genetics was not related to treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
People who suffer from treatment-resistant schizophrenia have a higher risk of death or suicide compared to those who respond to treatment. Kowalec hopes that these findings will affect clinical practices and future research.
“This work also points us to future research into understanding the shared genetic and environmental risks for treatment resistance in schizophrenia, including more comprehensive genetic markers," said Kowalec.
The work was funded by grants through the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme and the Government of Canada Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program.
