Low Prevalence of Psychoses Among the Hutterites, an Isolated Religious Community
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The authors estimated the prevalence of psychoses among the Hutterites in Manitoba, Canada, who lived in 102 communal farms or colonies. The study stemmed from an earlier epidemiological survey of North American Hutterite colonies (1950-1953), in which a low prevalence of psychoses was documented. METHOD: Psychiatrically ill individuals identified during the previous survey were rediagnosed with DSM-IV criteria. A current provincial health insurance claims database was queried anonymously for the period June 1992-May 1997, and the prevalence rate of disease among Hutterites, identified by distinctive surnames and unique postal addresses, was compared with the rate in the entire population of the province of Manitoba and in a comparison group of persons with Hutterite surnames but with addresses outside the Hutterite colonies. RESULTS: The annual prevalence of schizophrenia among the communal Hutterites, estimated from the database search by using ICD-9 criteria, was consistent with the prevalence found in the prior epidemiological survey (annual mean of 1.2/1,000 population, compared with 1.3/1,000 in the prior survey). The database search yielded a significantly lower prevalence for schizophrenia and other functional psychoses among communal Hutterites as well as among the comparison group, compared to the total Manitoba population. There was also lower prevalence for affective psychoses and adjustment reaction disorders among the communal Hutterites, compared to the total Manitoba population. Rates for neurotic disorders were elevated both among the communal Hutterites and the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of specific psychoses was reduced among the Hutterites, although neurotic disorders were more prevalent. These findings suggest some specificity, although possible artifacts such as ascertainment bias must be considered. Further research is needed to examine genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to reduced prevalence of specific psychoses among the Hutterites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
One study allocated to "other special groups" did provide confidence limits.
“One study, which was allocated to “other special groups,” did provide confidence limits [29].”
From A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia (2005) · cites this paper as [29]
Some religious groups had very low prevalence estimates: 0.36 per 1,000 for Amish individuals and 1.29 per 1,000 for Hutterite individuals.
“Conversely, some religious groups had very low prevalence estimates—0.36 per 1,000 persons for Amish individuals [80] and 1.29 per 1,000 persons for Hutterite individuals [29].”
From A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia (2005) · cites this paper as [29]
Cites
202. Note: Significance Factors for the Ratio of a Poisson Variable to Its Expectation
Bailar, J. C., & Ederer, F. (1964) · Biometrics · doi:10.2307/2528501 · Cited by 600 · see citing works
Carpenter, W. T., & Buchanan, R. W. (1994) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm199403103301006 · Cited by 510 · see citing works
A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients
Harrison, G. L., Owens, D., Holton, A., Neilson, D., & Boot, D. (1988) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291700008321 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Ober, C. (1998) · Human Molecular Genetics · doi:10.1093/hmg/7.9.1393 · Cited by 382 · see citing works
Using administrative data for longitudinal research: Comparisons with primary data collection
Roos, L. L., Nicol, J. P., & Cageorge, S. M. (1987) · Journal of Chronic Diseases · doi:10.1016/0021-9681(87)90095-6 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Morris, R. E., Eaton, J. W., & Weil, R. J. (1955) · The American Catholic Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/3708804 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Self-citationHistory and relevance of the Hutterite population for genetic studies
Hostetler, J. A., Opitz, J. M., & Reynolds, J. F. (1985) · American Journal of Medical Genetics · doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320220303 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
The Epidemiology of Schizophrenia in Papua New Guinea
Torrey, E. F., Torrey, B. B., & Burton‐Bradley, B. G. (1974) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.131.5.567 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
The Mental Health of the Hutterites
Eaton, J. W., & Weil, R. J. (1953) · Scientific American · doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1253-31 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Self-citationA gene-gender interaction affecting plasma lipoproteins in a genetic isolate.
Hegele, R. A., Evans, A. J., Tu, L., Ip, G., Brunt, J., & Connelly, P. W. (1994) · Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis A Journal of Vascular Biology · doi:10.1161/01.atv.14.5.671 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Varicella zoster virus and multiple sclerosis in a hutterite population
Ross, R. T., Nicolle, L. E., & Cheang, M. (1995) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/0895-4356(95)00046-1 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Prevalence of psychosis among the Hutterites: a reanalysis of the 1950–1953 study
Torrey, Ε. F. (1995) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/0920-9964(95)00042-k · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Lin, T.-Y., Chu, H., Rin, H., et al. (1989) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1989.tb05213.x · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Man's Capacity to Reproduce. The demography of a unique population.
Glass, D. V., Eaton, J. W., & Mayer, A. (1955) · Population Studies · doi:10.2307/2172468 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationCongenital anomalies in the Hutterite population: A preliminary survey and hypothesis
Lowry, R. B., Morgan, K., Holmes, T., et al. (1985) · American Journal of Medical Genetics · doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320220312 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationCommon infectious diseases in a population with low multiple sclerosis and varicella occurrence
Ross, R. T., & Cheang, M. (1997) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(96)00374-5 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Cancer Incidence in a Religious Isolate of Alberta, Canada, 1953–74 2 3
Gaudette, L. A., Holmes, T., Laing, L., et al. (1978) · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute · doi:10.1093/jnci/60.6.1233 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
European cultural offshoots in the New World: Differences in their mental hospitalization patterns
Murphy, H. B. M. (1980) · European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.1007/bf00365603 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia
Saha, S., Chant, D., Welham, J., & McGrath, J. (2005) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020141 · Cited by 2,168 · see citing works
Moreno-Küstner, B., Martín, C., & Pastor, L. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195687 · Cited by 562 · see citing works
Mental disorders, religion and spirituality 1990 to 2010: a systematic evidence-based review
Bonelli, R. M., & Koenig, H. G. (2013) · Journal of Religion and Health · doi:10.1007/s10943-013-9691-4 · Cited by 516 · see citing works
The social defeat hypothesis of schizophrenia: An update
Selten, J.-P., van der Ven, E., Rutten, B. P. F., & Cantor-Graae, E. (2013) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt134 · Cited by 498 · see citing works
Genetics of population isolates
Arcos‐Burgos, M., & Muenke, M. (2002) · Clinical Genetics · doi:10.1034/j.1399-0004.2002.610401.x · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Jablensky, A. (2003) · Schizophrenia · doi:10.1002/9780470987353.ch12 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Clinical genetics and the Hutterite population: a review of Mendelian disorders.
Boycott, K. M., Parboosingh, J. S., Chodirker, B. N., Lowry, R. B., McLeod, D. R., Morris, J., Greenberg, C. R., Chudley, A. E., Bernier, F. P., Midgley, J., et al. (2008) · American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A · doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.32245 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Dalgalarrondo, P., Marín-León, L., Botega, N. J., De Azevedo Barros, M. B., & Bosco de Oliveira, H. (2008) · International Journal of Social Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0020764008091439 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nimgaonkar, V. L., Fujiwara, T. M., Dutta, M., Wood, J., Gentry, K., Maendel, S., Morgan, K., & Eaton, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2000-07-01
- Volume
- 157
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1065-1070
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- OpenAlex
- W2129211575
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1k02mh001489-01a1)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH01489, MH30915)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
- Keywords
- Hutterites, psychosis prevalence, schizophrenia, affective psychosis, neurosis, health insurance claims data, ascertainment bias, genetic and environmental factors
- MeSH terms
- Bipolar Disorder, Canada, Emigration and Immigration, Family, Genetics, Population, Humans, Manitoba, Neurotic Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia, Sex Factors, United States, Prevalence, Age of Onset, Founder Effect
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
