It turns out that keeping a cat and the onset of schizophrenia are unrelated

ByMoyan Brenn

In January 2015, a paper with the content that "Patients who developed schizophrenia have a common relationship of keeping cats in their infancy"AnnouncementIt was a shocking result for the cat lover. However, the research team of University College London, who disputed the results of this research, published the findings that "There is no relationship between breeding of cats and schizophrenia".

Curiosity killed the cat: no evidence of association between cat ownership and psychotic symptoms at ages 13 and 18 years in a UK general population cohort | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core

Having A Cat Does Not Cause Mental Illness, New Study Suggests | The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cats-mental-illness-toxoplasma_us_58adc06ae4b03d80af714072

In a paper published in January 2015, a survey report of a families association of American psychiatric patients in 1982 examined, 50.6% of those who developed schizophrenia breed cats during childhood In addition, 50.9% and 51.9% of people who suffered from schizophrenia and who grew up in a family who had a cat even in the survey of two families of American psychiatric patients in the 1990s, That was. These three findings have led to the conclusion that "Patients who developed schizophrenia have a common point that they kept their cats in their infancy."

The hypothesis was made that there is a possibility of "Toxoplasmas" parasitizing cats as to why breeding cats will cause schizophrenia. You can see how Toxoplasma affects humans from the following articles.

It turned out that the parasite parasitizing also in the human body is distorting the behavior and personality of the host - GIGAZINE


It is the research team of University College London that challenged this paper. The research team surveyed 5000 child data born in 1991 and 1992 registered in The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). As a result, children born or raised in families rearing cats during pregnancy, young age, maturity, etc. are not particularly high in risk of developing psychosis between 13 and 18 years of age It was concluded.

ByJimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

The research team at University College London said about the paper published in January 2015 "The number of subjects to be surveyed is small, how the subjects to be surveyed were selected, and the data used was missing There is a part that exists, which may result in accidental results in the survey results or lead to biased results. "

In this survey, it was concluded that "breeding of cats is not related to schizophrenia", but it is a fact that there is a risk of Toxoplasma parasitizing on cats, and in the early stages of infection, Toxoplasma It may cause disease.America Disease Control CenterHas disclosed prevention methods such as washing hands at the time of cooking and gardening with gloves and masks when there is a garden where cats are freely coming and going, and in keeping animals You should avoid minimal prevention.