Common antibiotic could cut the risk of teens developing schizophrenia

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By Emma Wilkinson

A commonly prescribed antibiotic could help reduce the risk of some young people developing schizophrenia by more than a third, according to a major new study.

The research showed that patients of adolescent mental health services who were treated with doxycycline had a 30-35% lower risk of developing the mental health condition than those who received other antibiotics.

Reporting the findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the team led by the University of Edinburgh said it highlights the potential to repurpose an existing, widely used medication as a preventive intervention for severe mental illness

They examined data from more than 56,000 adolescent patients aged between 13 and 18 years who had been prescribed antibiotics.

Further analyses showed that the lower risk was not simply because the young people may have been treated for acne rather than having infections and was unlikely to be explained by other hidden differences between the groups.