Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T06:33:41.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Klinefelter's Syndrome and Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John C. Pomeroy*
Affiliation:
St Bernard's Hospital, Southall, Middlesex

Extract

The prevalence of Klinefelter's Syndrome in new-born males in large surveys throughout the world has shown a scatter of 1.4 to 1.9 per thousand. Forssman (1970) accepted by pooling results a figure of 0.17 per cent as the average proportion of males born with at least one too many X chromosomes in some or all cell lines. Studies of mental hospital populations have consistently shown a higher prevalence of extra X chromosomes in males, averaging 0.54 per cent. The two largest studies, in Great Britain (Maclean et al, 1968) and in Sweden (Hambert, 1966) made no differentiation in the psychiatric diagnosis of the patients, although Hambert stated that the high prevalence did not stem from the mentally retarded population.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Forssman, H. (1970) The mental implications of sex chromosome aberrations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 353–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hambert, G. (1968) Males with positive sex chromatin. An epidemiological investigation followed by psychiatric study of 75 cases. Akademiforlaget. Gumperts, Göteborg.Google Scholar
Maclean, N., Court-Brown, W. M., Jacobs, D. A., Mantle, D. J. & Strong, J. A. (1968) A survey of sex chromatin abnormalities in mental hospitals. Journal of Medical Genetics, 5, 156–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sperber, M. A., Salomon, L., Collins, M. H. & Stambler, M. (1972) Childhood schizophrenia and 47 XXY Klinefelter's Syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 1400–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swanson, D. W. & Stipes, A. H. (1969) Psychiatric aspects of Klinefelter's Syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 814–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.