Wang LY, et al. - Whether or not a history of autoimmune diseases (AD) is associated with an increased risk of later onset of schizophrenia was investigated. Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, researchers identified a total of 64,817 AD patients. Observations revealed an increased risk of developing schizophrenia in association with AD, suggesting that the abnormal autoimmune process was associated with an increase in the expression of psychiatric disturbances. A significant increase in the risk of schizophrenia was particularly noted in systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis and autoimmune vasculitis. They also identified some potential risk factors for developing schizophrenia, including younger age (less than or equal to 50 years) and some comorbidities (hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and alcohol use disorder). Conversely, steroid use was identified to be a potential protective factor for the development of schizophrenia.