Schizophrenia Research
Volume 73, Issue 2 , Pages 333-341 , 1 March 2005

Cancer in schizophrenia: is the risk higher or lower?

  • Alexander Grinshpoon

      Affiliations

    • Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, 2 Ben Tabai Street, Jerusalem 91010, Israel
  • ,
  • Micha Barchana

      Affiliations

    • Cancer Registry, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel
    • School of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Welfare, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
  • ,
  • Alexander Ponizovsky

      Affiliations

    • Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, 2 Ben Tabai Street, Jerusalem 91010, Israel
  • ,
  • Irena Lipshitz

      Affiliations

    • Cancer Registry, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel
  • ,
  • Daniella Nahon

      Affiliations

    • Department of Information and Evaluation, Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel
  • ,
  • Orna Tal

      Affiliations

    • Department of Technology, Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel
  • ,
  • Abraham Weizman

      Affiliations

    • Geha Mental Health Center, Petach Tikva, Israel
  • ,
  • Itzhak Levav

      Affiliations

    • Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, 2 Ben Tabai Street, Jerusalem 91010, Israel
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +972 2 568 1429; fax: +972 2 672 5822.

Received 29 March 2004 ,Revised 28 June 2004 ,Accepted 29 June 2004.

References 

  1. Baldwin JA. Schizophrenia and physical disease. Psychol. Med. 1979;9:611–618
  2. Brown S, Birtwistle J, Roe L, Thompson C. The unhealthy lifestyle of people with schizophrenia. Psychol. Med. 1999;29:697–701
  3. Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel nos. 34–54, Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem, Israel (http://www.cbs.gov.il).
  4. Cohen M, Dembling B, Schorling J. The association between schizophrenia and cancer: a population-based mortality study. Schizophr. Res. 2002;57:139–146
  5. Cradock-O'Leary J, Young AS, Yano EM, Wang M, Lee ML. Use of general medical services by VA patients with psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr. Serv. 2002;53:874–878
  6. Dalack GW, Healy DJ, Meador-Woodruff JH. Nicotine dependence in schizophrenia: clinical phenomena and laboratory findings. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1998;155:1490–1501
  7. Fishler Y, Barchana M, Tischler T. Cancer registry training program for health information management professionals in Israel. J. Regist. Manag. 2002;29:78–85
  8. Folsom DP, McCahill M, Bartels SJ, Lindamer LA, Ganiats TG, Jeste DV. Medical comorbidity and receipt of medical care by older homeless people with schizophrenia or depression. Psychiatr. Serv. 2002;53:1456–1460
  9. Freedman LS, Al-Kayed S, Qasem MB, Barchana M, Boyiadzis M, El-Najjar K, et al. Cancer registration in the Middle East. Epidemiology. 2001;12:131–133
  10. Gil-Ad I, Shtaif B, Levkovitz Y, Dayag M, Zeldich E, Weizman A. Characterization of phenothiazine-induced apoptosis in neuroblastoma and glioma cell lines: clinical relevance and possible application for brain-derived tumors. J. Mol. Neurosci. 2004;22:189–198
  11. Goldman LS. Medical illness in patients with schizophrenia. J. Clin. Psychiatry. 1999;60(Suppl. 21):10–15
  12. Goodman AB, Rahav M, Popper M, Ginath Y, Pearl E. The reliability of psychiatric diagnosis in Israel's Psychiatric Case Register. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 1984;69:391–397
  13. Gulbinat W, Dupont A, Jablensky A, Jensen OM, Marsella A, Nakane Y, et al. Cancer incidence of schizophrenic patients. Results of record linkage studies in three countries. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1992;(Suppl. 18):75–83
  14. Halbreich U, Shen J, Panaro V. Are chronic psychiatric patients at increased risk for developing breast cancer?. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1996;153:559–560
  15. Israel Center for Disease Control, 1998. Trends in Morbidity and Mortality of Malignant Diseases in Israel, 1970–1995. Publication No. 163, Israel Center for Disease Control.
  16. Israel National Cancer Registry. Cancer in Israel—Annual Reports of the Israel National Cancer Registry, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. Ministry of Health, Jerusalem (http://www.health.gov.il/icr).
  17. Jablensky A, Lawrence D. Schizophrenia and cancer: is there a need to invoke a protective gene?. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 2001;58:579–580
  18. Lawrence D, Holman CD, Jablensky AV, Threlfall TJ, Fuller SA. Excess cancer mortality in Western Australian psychiatric patients due to higher case fatality rates. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 2000;101:382–388
  19. Levav I, Kohn R, Dohrenwend BP, Shrout PE, Skodol AE, Schwartz S, et al. An epidemiological study of mental disorder in a 10 year cohort of young adults in Israel. Psychol. Med. 1993;23:691–708
  20. Levav I, Grinshpoon A. Mental health services in Israel. Int. Psychiatry. 2004;4:10–14
  21. Lichtenberg P, Kaplan Z, Grinshpoon A, Feldman D, Nahon D. The goals and limitations of Israel's psychiatric case register. Psychiatr. Serv. 1999;50:1043–1048
  22. Lichtermann D, Ekelund J, Pukkala E, Tanskanen A, Lonnqvist J. Incidence of cancer among persons with schizophrenia and their relatives. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 2001;58:573–578
  23. Ministry of Israel . Mental Health in Israel. Statistical Annual 2003. Department of Information and Evaluation, Jerusalem: Mental Health Services; 2003;
  24. Mortensen PB. The occurrence of cancer in first admitted schizophrenic patients. Schizophr. Res. 1994;12:185–194
  25. Mortensen PB. Mortality and physical illness in schizophrenia. In:  Murray RM,  Jones PB,  Susser E,  van Os J,  Cannon M editor. The Epidemiology of Schizophrenia. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press; 2002;p. 275–287
  26. Nordenberg J, Fenig E, Landau M, Weizman R, Weizman A. Effects of psychotropic drugs on cell proliferation and differentiation. Biochem. Pharmacol. 1999;58:1229–1236
  27. Oksbjerg Dalton S, Munk Laursen T, Mellemkjaer L, Johansen C, Mortensen PB. Schizophrenia and the risk for breast cancer. Schizophr. Res. 2003;62:89–92
  28. Oksbjerg Dalton S, Munk Laursen T, Mellemkjaer L, Johansen C, Mortensen PB. Risk for cancer in parents of patients with schizophrenia. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2004;161:903–908
  29. Park JK, Lee HJ, Kim JW, Park YH, Lee SS, Chang HI, et al. Differences in p53 gene polymorphisms between Korean schizophrenia and lung cancer patients. Schizophr. Res. 2004;67:71–74
  30. Rabinowitz J, Slyuzberg M, Ritsner M, Mark M, Popper M, Ginath Y. Changes in diagnosis in a 9-year national longitudinal sample. Compr. Psychiatry. 1994;35:361–365
  31. Scottish Schizophrenia Research Group. Smoking habits and plasma lipid peroxide and vitamin E levels in never-treated first-episode patients with schizophrenia. Br. J. Psychiatry. 2000;176:290–293
  32. Srinivasan TN, Thara R. Smoking in schizophrenia—all is not biological. Schizophr. Res. 2002;56:67–74
  33. Steinitz RM, Parkin DM, Young JL, Bieber CS, Katz L. Cancer Incidence in Jewish Migrants in Israel: 1961-1981. Lyons, France: IARC Scientific Publications; 1989;
  34. World Health Organization . International Classification of Diseases for Oncology. Geneva Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1976;

PII: S0920-9964(04)00213-0

doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2004.06.016

Schizophrenia Research
Volume 73, Issue 2 , Pages 333-341 , 1 March 2005