Principal investigator (Basel centre): Prof. Dr. med. A. Riecher-Rössler
Contact: Prof. Dr. med. S. Borgwardt
The "European Gene Environment Interaction Study" (EU-GEI), funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission, aims to identify — over a period of five years — interacting genetic, clinical and environmental factors that influence the development, presentation and consequences of schizophrenic psychoses.
A detailed analysis of the interplay between risk and protective factors is intended to improve the early prediction of whether a transition from a risk state into a manifest clinical disorder will occur (or not), as well as the course of illness after such a transition. To this end, the study findings will be used to develop multidimensional algorithms for estimating individual risk, in particular in order to reduce the rate of false-positive predictions.
The study examines a sample of patients with diagnosed schizophrenia, their first-degree relatives, individuals at clinically elevated risk for psychosis according to the so-called ultra high risk criteria, and healthy control participants. It comprises the assessment of psychopathological risk characteristics, psychosocial stressors such as trauma, bullying, cannabis use or migration, neuropsychological variables and neuroradiological findings, DNA analyses, as well as the immediate assessment of stress reactivity, affect regulation and psychosis-like or psychotic experiences using electronically supported event-sampling methods in participants' everyday lives.
The multi-centre study is coordinated by the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. The Psychiatric University Polyclinic Basel participates as a cooperation partner in the work package "Prodrome", coordinated by the Institute of Psychiatry in London, United Kingdom. A sub-sample of individuals with a suspected prodromal state of psychosis is recruited and examined at the early-detection clinic of the Psychiatric University Polyclinic, which specialises in the differential diagnosis of clinical risk states for psychotic disorders.
After a baseline assessment, follow-up examinations are conducted at 12 and 24 months, with re-evaluation of the baseline variables and determination of the psychopathological status or a possible transition into a manifest psychotic disorder.
More information is available on the EU-GEI homepage.