From: Association testing of copy number variants in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders
MODEL 1: AUTISM or ASD and schizophrenia as separate disorders | |||
---|---|---|---|
MODEL 1a: AUTISM OR ASD ONLY | |||
 | Child | Adult | Comments |
CNV is autism risk factor only | Autism or ASD | Autism or ASD; no schizophrenia | ASD traits, but no schizophrenia spectrum traits, in adults |
MODEL 1b: SCHIZOPHRENIA ONLY | |||
 | Child | Adult | Comments |
CNV is schizophrenia risk factor | Non-clinical or mild premorbidity; no autism or ASD | Schizophrenia; no autism or ASD | Possibe schizophrenia spectrum traits in individuals with CNV but no schizophrenia diagnosis |
MODEL 2: ASD and schizophrenia as apparently overlapping disorders | |||
MODEL 2a: AUTISM OR ASD AND SCHIZOPHRENIA; TRUE OVERLAP | |||
 | Child | Adult | Comments |
CNV is risk factor for both autism or ASD and schizophrenia | Autism or ASD | Schizophrenia or autism or ASD | Traits overlapping ASD, autism and schizophrenia, such as sociality and language deficits/abnormalities, are prominent |
MODEL 2b: SCHIZOPHRENIA ONLY; AUTISM OR ASD IS FALSE POSITIVE | |||
 | Child | Adult | Comments |
CNV is schizophrenia risk factor only; autism or ASD diagnoses are false positives | ‘Autism or ASD’ (actually premorbidity to schizophrenia) | Schizophrenia; no autism or ASD | ‘ASD’ children have adult relatives with schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum; ‘ASD’ is commonly PDD-NOS; child ‘ASD’ phenotypes resemble schizophrenia premorbid phenotypes that are relatively severe |