Descriptive study of 20 patients with schizophrenia in Boyacá, Colombia Schizophrenia = Estudio descriptivo de una muestra de pacientes con esquizofrenia residentes en el departamento de Boyacá, Colombia Zayda Lorena Corredor Rozo1 , Mayely Paola Sánchez Espinosa1 , Milena Rondón Lagos2 , Paola Liliana Páez Rojas3 , Carolina Cortés Duque4 , Ruth Maribel Forero Castro5 RESUMEN

Schizophrenia is a multifactorial disease with high genetic heterogeneity and complex inheritance. In Boyacá, Colombia, we studied a group of 20 schizo- phrenic patients (16 men and four women) in order to establish their socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and the genetic and predisposing factors. Cytogenetic studies and a descriptive anal- ysis of qualitative and quantitative variables were done. More often the disease started in young adults (average age of initiation: 22.5 years). The predomi- nant subtype (8/20) was paranoid schizophrenia, with progressive start (14/20). Predisposing factors were found in 15 patients, namely: physical in nine, social in five and economic in one. All cariotypes were normal. Clinical features did not associate with either the sociodemographic characteristics or the genetic and predisposing factors; this is evidence of the clinical heterogeneity of schizophrenia. Patients and their families received genetic counseling and explanations on the results, the possibility of recur- rences and the risk of suffering the disease when a relative is affected by it. Further and larger studies are required in order to determine if the factors eval- uated in this work have influence on the develop- ment of the disease.