The Southport Stabber and the much higher schizophrenia risk among blacks

"A ninefold increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia in black Caribbeans when compared with the white British population: the increased risk was 5.8 in black Africans and 1.4 in South Asians."

In Southport, UK, Axel Rudakubana, the world’s smallest, least threatening-looking child (at least according to the very out of date photos of him used in the press), stabbed 13 people, mostly little girls. So far, three of his little girl victims have died.

Interestingly, schizophrenia is extraordinarily high in the UK among first and second generation blacks from the Caribbean and Africa. Master Rudakubana, who turned 18, last week, was born in Cardiff. His parents are from Rwanda.

From a 2008 study in the British Journal of General Practitioners:

Schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK: an exploration of underlying causes of the high incidence rate

Rebecca Pinto, BA (Hons), MSc, Research Associate, Mark Ashworth, DM, MRCP, MRCGP, Clinical Senior Lecturer, and Roger Jones, DM, MA, FRCP, FRCGP, FMedSci, FFPHM, Wolfson Professor of General Practice

Abstract

The incidence of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans living in the UK is substantially higher than in the white British population. When first reported, these findings were assumed to be a first-generation migrant effect or merely the result of methodological artefacts associated with inconsistencies in the diagnosis of schizophrenia in black Caribbeans and doubts about population denominators. More recently, it has become clear that the incidence of schizophrenia, based on standardised diagnosis and sophisticated census methods, is higher still in second-generation black Caribbeans. The largest study to date has demonstrated a ninefold higher risk of schizophrenia in UK-resident black Caribbeans: …

INTRODUCTION

… Elevated incidence rates of schizophrenia in UK black Caribbeans have been consistently reported. The UK-based Aetiology and Ethnicity in Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses (ÆSOP) multisite (Bristol, south-east London, and Nottingham) study is one of the largest studies to examine ethnic variations in schizophrenia incidence. In 2006, ÆSOP reported a ninefold increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia in black Caribbeans when compared with the white British population: the increased risk was 5.8 in black Africans and 1.4 in South Asians.