"Mysterious Link Between Owning Cats And Schizophrenia Is Real, Study Says"

I thought everyone knew that. (no, not talking sexist anecdotal "rise of the crazy cat ladies", see after the jump)

From ScienceAlert, December 8:

A new review suggests that having a cat as a pet could potentially double a person's risk of schizophrenia-related disorders.

Australian researchers conducted an analysis of 17 studies published during the last 44 years, from 11 countries including the US and the UK.

"We found an association between broadly defined cat ownership and increased odds of developing schizophrenia-related disorders," writes psychiatrist John McGrath and fellow researchers, all from the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

This idea that cat ownership could be linked to schizophrenia risk was proposed in a 1995 study, with exposure to a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii suggested as a cause. But the research so far has put forth mixed conclusions.

Studies have found that being around cats during childhood might make a person more likely to develop schizophrenia; however, not all studies have found an association.

Some also link cat exposure to higher scores on scales that measure traits related to schizophrenia – which affects a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors – and psychotic-like experiences, but again, other studies don't show this connection.....

*****

....The study has been published in Schizophrenia Bulletin. 

....MUCH MORE

I wonder if I could get a discount for a lifetime subscription?

Previously:

2012: "Could Tiny Organisms Carried by House Cats be Creeping into our Brains, Causing Everything from Car Wrecks to Schizophrenia? "

2014  The Ig Nobel Prizes, 2014

....PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE [CZECH REPUBLIC, JAPAN, USA, INDIA]: Jaroslav Flegr, Jan Havlíček and Jitka Hanušova-Lindova, and to David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan, Lisa Seyfried, for investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.

REFERENCE: "Changes in personality profile of young women with latent toxoplasmosis," Jaroslav Flegr and Jan Havlicek, Folia Parasitologica, vol. 46, 1999, pp. 22-28. 

REFERENCE: "Decreased level of psychobiological factor novelty seeking and lower intelligence in men latently infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii Dopamine, a missing link between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis?" Jaroslav Flegr, Marek Preiss, Jiřı́ Klose, Jan Havlı́ček, Martina Vitáková, and Petr Kodym, Biological Psychology, vol. 63, 2003, pp. 253–268. 

REFERENCE: "Describing the Relationship between Cat Bites and Human Depression Using Data from an Electronic Health Record," David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan, Lisa Seyfried, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 8, 2013, e70585. WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Jaroslav Flegr, David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan