EC Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Background and Objectives: Toxoplasmosis is among the most frequent zoonotic illnesses worldwide. Its connection emerges substantially among psychotic patients. There have been few studies on the associations between these ailments. Hence, we mapped this study to determine the incidence of toxoplasmosis in female and male patients with acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPD).

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 115 patients with ATPD. Their psychotic symptoms were gauged with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores. The BPRS scores above 52 imply severe psychotic disorder. We also assessed the toxoplasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels. Similarly, IgG levels above 12 IU/ml are rendered positive for toxoplasmosis. We contrasted the age, BPRS, and IgG values of female and male participants. The Shapiro-Wilk test was employed to determine the normality of the data distribution. We also correlated the BPRS and IgG values of the study population. R software (version 4.4.1) was leveraged for the data analysis.

Results: Out of 137 patients we screened, 115 (83.9%) were eligible. Of them, 64 (55.7%) were females. The median age of the study population was 40.5 (35.5-47.0) years [female: 41.5 (35.0-47.0) years; male: 41.0 (38.0-47.0) years; p = 0.48]. Only 13 (11.3%) participants were diagnosed with toxoplasmosis. The median BPRS score of the study population was 41.5 (37.0-47.5) [female: 42.0 (37.5-48.0); male: 40.0 (37.0-46.0); p = 0.48]. The median IgG value of the study population was 2.0 (1.0-4.0) IU/ml [female: 1.8 (1.0-4.5) IU/ml; male: 2.3 (1.0-3.8) IU/ml; p = 0.62]. We found a positive association (r = 0.24, p = 0.68) between BPRS and IgG values [female: (r = 0.27, p = 0.62); male: (r = 0.22, p = 0.71)].

Conclusion: Our study revealed that middle-aged persons were affected with toxoplasmosis. We demonstrated a positive correlation between the BPRS and IgG values. However, the association was not statistically significant.

 Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii; Psychosis; Immunoglobulin; Correlation; Chronic Infection; Raincloud Plot

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