Psychosis as a multisystem disorder of aberrant aging
Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia and affective psychosis, affect ~3% of the population and typically emerge in early adulthood. Cardiometabolic disease accounts for much of the 20-year life-expectancy gap in psychosis. Evidence indicates potentially causal processes, often seen in aging, act within and beyond the brain, and before the onset of treatment; these include inflammation, metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunction. Here we synthesize evidence and propose a framework that proposes psychosis as a multisystem disorder of accelerated aging, and outline implications for aging-targeted interventions.
Authors
- Amalie C. M. Couch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9090-5994)
- Toby Pillinger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6074-2626)
- Lahiru Handunnetthi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8242-3722)
- Paris A. Lalousis
- Fabiana Corsi-Zuelli
- Jack Rogers
- Benjamin I. Perry
- Nicholas M. Barnes
- Nikolaos Koutsouleris
- Rachel Upthegrove
- Antonio de Marvao
- Zachary Freyberg
Institutions
- Centre for Human Genetics (GB)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University College Birmingham (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (DE)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- Medical Research Council (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Aging
- Published
- 2026-05-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00409-2
- Primary Topic
- Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Fetal Medicine Foundation