Study of gene mutation ties schizophrenia risk to smoking

HARTFORD — Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by hallucinations, withdrawal from reality, and paranoia. While there are many drugs to help treat schizophrenia, about 90 percent of people with this disease also smoke cigarettes and 68 percent of them smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day versus only 11 percent of regular smokers. Schizophrenia is characterized by a decreased activity in the front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, where good judgment, stress control, de