Conference paper
DOES THE INCREASED RATE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA DIAGNOSIS IN AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN MEN IN THE UK SHOWN BY THE AESOP STUDY REFLECT CULTURAL BIAS IN HEALTHCARE?
Millie Ngaage
; School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Mark Agius
; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Abstract
Introduction: The UK-based AESOP study conducted over a two-year period in three UK sites simultaneously (London, Nottingham,
and Bristol), is the largest study to date to conduct a first contact case-control study of psychosis. The study found that rates of
schizophrenia were markedly elevated in both African-Caribbean and Black African people, in both sexes and across all age groups.
Subjects and methods: English language literature published up to 2016 was searched. The initial search included: PubMed,
The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. A second search was conducted using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and keywords.
Studies selected for retrieval were assessed by two independent reviewers.
Results: The search yielded eight results, all of which supported the conclusion of an increased incidence of schizophrenia in
Black African and Black Caribbean population in the AESOP study.
Conclusion: England is a multicultural landscape; multiplicity of cultures makes diagnosis difficult. The lessons we must learn
from the AESOP study is the need for transcultural training and the removal of blinding to ethnicity when a large epidemiological
study is conducted – psychiatrists need to be cognisant of cultures and aware of the context of symptoms.
Keywords
AESOP; African Caribbean; Black African; schizophrenia; diagnostic methods
Hrčak ID:
264876
URI
Publication date:
30.8.2016.
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