Schizophrenia ‘can be detected with simple eye movement test’

A study from the University of Aberdeen has created a way of detecting schizophrenia simply and efficiently using eye testing.

Based on the long history of research associating this condition with impaired eye movements, a team of scientists have developed a series of eye tests aimed at identifying schizophrenia cases from healthy control subjects.

These include asking patients to track slow-moving objects with their eyes, inspect a variety of everyday scenes or maintain a steady gaze on a single motionless target.

It was found that by analysing results from these tests, researchers were able to detect schizophrenia sufferers with 98 percent accuracy.

Professor David St Clair, one of the study leaders, said: "Typical neuropsychological assessments are time-consuming, expensive and require highly trained individuals to administer. In comparison, these eye tests are simple, cheap and take only minutes to conduct."

Schizophrenia is one of the most common serious mental health conditions in the UK, affecting men and women equally, though onset tends to occur earlier among males.