Evidence of linkage to psychosis on chromosome 5q33-34 in pedigrees ascertained for bipolar disorder.

It is hypothesized that the presence of psychotic features may define a subtype of bipolar disorder that is more homogeneous in its genetic predisposition than bipolar disorder as a whole. We used psychosis as an alternative phenotype definition in a re-analysis of the NIMH Bipolar Genetics Initiative data sets. In this analysis we selected only those families in which at least two members were diagnosed with bipolar disorder type 1 with psychotic features. This analysis identified a linkage signal on chromosome 5q33-q34, a region previously implicated in independent linkage studies of schizophrenia and of psychosis, broadly defined. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that susceptibility to psychosis may characterize at least a subtype of bipolar disorder.