Immunological Distubances in Psychiatric Patients

To the Editor.—  In their article on immunological disturbances in psychiatric patients, Roos et al¹ found no changes in immunoglobulin levels in schizophrenics and depressed patients, which suggested to them that viral and autoimmune factors were not of etiological significance in these conditions.Eighty-two percent of the sample population in this study was composed of schizophrenic patients who had been exposed to neuroleptics for prolonged periods of time. Gowdy² has shown that neuroleptics affect immunoglobulin levels. Furthermore, although these patients had been drug-free for two weeks before specimens were obtained, active metabolites of these drugs can still be present in the tissues for up to 60 days or longer.^3,4 What effect this would have on immunological criteria is uncertain.To avoid this problematic effect, the sample population should ideally be composed only of patients who have never taken neuroleptics.