Information on Data Collected

Sample Recruitment of Case-Controls

The Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank is based on a case (schizophrenia) and control (non-psychiatric) sampling design. The sample is drawn from five Australian States collected via media advertisements, inpatient, outpatient and community mental health service providers, non-government organisations, rehabilitation services, and cold telephoning using the electoral rolls in each State (recruitment of healthy controls only).

Participants have a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder according to DSM-IV / ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. Healthy controls are screened for a family history of, or treatment for, a psychiatric illness at the time of registration.

• The sample is English speaking and aged between 18 and 65 years.
• All participants undergo a clinical and neuropsychological assessment and provide a blood sample at the time of assessment.
• An MRI is also collected in suitable consenting individuals.
• All participants have the option of registering to be contacted about participation in future schizophrenia focused research projects.