FIGS Overview

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About

The Family Interview for Genetic Studies (FIGS) was developed by principal investigators in the NIMH Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Genetics Initiatives and NIMH extramural program staff as a guide for systematically collecting information about relatives in family/genetic studies of these disorders. Unlike the DIGS, the FIGS does not elicit self-report data; subjects are instead asked to provide diagnostic information about relatives in the pedigrees being studied. This information becomes part of a pool of data on each individual relative to be added to data from the completed Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS) and other records.

The FIGS becomes particularly important when reliance on direct information from a subject becomes impossible. There are always relatives who are deceased or unavailable, and some who do not provide true or adequate information about themselves or who are too ill to be interviewed directly.