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Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on July 22, 2008
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn089
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Incidence of Schizophrenia Among Second-Generation Immigrants in the Jerusalem Perinatal Cohort

Cheryl Corcoran1,2, Mary Perrin3, Susan Harlap3,4, Lisa Deutsch5, Shmuel Fennig6, Orly Manor5, Daniella Nahon7, David Kimhy2, Dolores Malaspina2,3 and Ezra Susser2,4
2 Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York
3 Department of Psychiatry, New York University, New York
4 Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, New York
5 Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health, Jerusalem
6 Department of Psychiatry, Shalvata Mental Health Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv
7 Mental Health Services Section, Israel Ministry of Health, Tel Aviv

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; New York State Psychiatric Institute, Unit 2, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032; tel: 212-543-6177, fax: 212-543-6176, e-mail: cc788{at}columbia.edu.

Objective: Increased incidence of schizophrenia is observed among some immigrant groups in Europe, with the offspring of immigrants, ie "second-generation" immigrants particularly vulnerable. Few contemporary studies have evaluated the risk of schizophrenia among second-generation immigrants in other parts of the world. Methods: We studied the incidence of schizophrenia in relation to parental immigrant status in a population-based cohort of 88 829 offspring born in Jerusalem in 1964–1976. Parental countries of birth were obtained from birth certificates and grouped together as (1) Israel, (2) Other West Asia, (3) North Africa, and (4) Europe and industrialized countries. Cox proportional hazards methods were used in adjusting for sex, parents’ ages, maternal education, social class, and birth order. Results: Linkage with Israel's Psychiatric Registry identified 637 people admitted to psychiatric care facilities with schizophrenia-related diagnoses, before 1998. Incidence of schizophrenia was not increased among second-generation immigrants in this birth cohort, neither overall nor by specific group. Conclusions: The difference in risk of schizophrenia among second-generation immigrants in Europe and in this Israeli birth cohort suggests that the nature of the immigration experience may be relevant to risk, including reasons for migration, the nature of entry, and subsequent position in the host country for immigrants and their offspring. Minority status may be of importance as, in later studies, immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia had increased risk of schizophrenia.

Keywords: immigration / risk / Israel / birth cohort / longitudinal


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