Case Study: The Coexistence of Oculocutaneous Albinism with Schizophrenia

Case Study: The Coexistence of Oculocutaneous Albinism with Schizophrenia

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The Coexistence of Oculocutaneous Albinism with Schizophrenia

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This case study was observed during my time at the psychiatric ward of Olive View-UCLA during the summer of 2017. A poster of this writeup was presented at the Annual Psychiatric Association (APA) Conference in 2018. The full case study was published on Cureus in January 2020 and can be read in full here. The abstract is presented below

Abstract

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is an extremely rare skin disorder which occurs in 0.005% of the world population, whereas schizophrenia is a rare mental illness which affects 1% of the world population. Researchers have spent much time searching for the causes of schizophrenia, as they are still largely unknown. It was previously hypothesized that schizophrenia could be caused by a defect in melatonin metabolism, leading to increased melanin production and the production of hallucinogenic agent. However, this implies that albinos would be protected against schizophrenia (since they have little to no melanin production), and although rare, there have been several case reports of albinos with schizophrenia, refuting this hypothesis. Following their discovery of schizophrenic albinos, several researchers have instead wondered whether schizophrenia and albinism could actually be genetically linked. To further this discussion, we present a case report of a 25-year-old African-American male with OCA2 and schizophrenia. He was hospitalized after his mother discovered the existence of a BB that was lodged in his forehead from a failed suicide attempt in response to command auditory hallucinations. The BB was removed during his hospitalization, and he was psychiatrically stabilized on a combination of risperidone, lithium, and escitalopram.

Keywords: albinism; genetic linkage; melatonin; oculocutaneous albinism; schizophrenia; tyrosinase.