Are You A Dog Person or An Increased Risk of Schizophrenia Person?
Household pets and schizophrenia
The Frontier Psychiatrists is a newsletter, about health. Today, we are going to dig into the data on household pet exposure and subsequent development of schizophrenia. Given my recent coverage of BlackCat, I figured some more grim news about cats was in order.
The newsletter is written by Owen Muir, M.D., DFAACAP1, who does not have schizophrenia but has been keenly interested in the well-being of humans with that condition. I thought, for a hot minute, I would end up as a researcher2 into treatments3 for that illness, until
sucked me down the rabbit hole of treatment-resistant mood disorders4 and suicidal adolescents and adults!—amazon affiliate link)Cats Increase The Risk of Schizophrenia, Dogs Decrease It
The short version: “broadly defined cat exposure” is a real risk! The opposite appears to be the case for dogs. I was surprised too. This also allows us to discuss two concepts in research study design, cohort studies and case-control studies. To be clear—It is not the cat th…