LEFT-handed people are likely to develop metal

• Among people with mental illnesses, left-handed people are more likely to suffer from psychotic disorders than mood disorders like depression
• 11% of people diagnosed with mood disorders are left-handed, compared to 40% of those with schizophrenia

Left-handed people are more likely to develop psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, than mood disorders such as depression, research suggests.A new study found that among people with mental illnesses, left-handed people are more likely to suffer from psychotic disorders than illnesses such as depression.The researchers found that 11 per cent of people diagnosed with mood disorders are left-handed, compared to 40 per cent of those with schizophrenia.The proportion of people with mood disorders who are left-handed - 11 per cent - is similar to the proportion of people in the whole population who are left-handed.Left-handed people are more likely to develop psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, than mood disorders, research suggests

The study authors, who published their findings in the journal SAGE Open, wrote: ‘Our results show a strikingly higher prevalence of left-handedness among patients presenting with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, compared to patients presenting for mood symptoms such as depression or bipolar disorder.’The researchers examined 107 patients at a public psychiatric clinic in an urban, low-income community to establish how many were left-handed.They found that left-handedness was far more prevalent in people with schizophrenia than in people with depression.‘Our own data showed that whites with psychotic illness were more likely to be left-handed than black patients,’ the authors wrote. ‘Even after controlling for this, however, a large difference between psychotic and mood disorder patients remained.’Previous research has suggested that left-handed women are also more likely to get breast cancer.

The researchers found that 11 per cent of people diagnosed with mood disorders are left-handed, compared to 40 per cent of those with schizophrenia

Dutch researchers found that left-handed women are more than twice as likely to develop pre-menopausal breast cancer as right-handed women.The team from University Medical Centre Utrecht believe the cause may lie in exposure to high levels of sex hormones in the womb - this can induce left-handedness and may also cause changes in breast tissue.Other previous research has implied that left-handed people are more prone to dyslexia and also anxiety.