A recent schizophrenia study conducted by scientists at Cardiff University has been key in providing the “strongest evidence yet” of the causes behind the condition.

In the biggest study of its kind to date, researchers assessed 11,355 patients by comparing their genetic data with a control group of 16,416 people that did not have the illness.

Dr Andrew Pocklington, from the university’s MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, said: “We’re finally starting to understand what goes wrong in schizophrenia.

“A reliable model of the disease is urgently needed to direct future efforts in developing new treatments which haven’t really improved a great deal since the 1970s.”

The results of the study, which have been published in the journal Neuron, reveal the connection between schizophrenia and a disruption in the brain’s chemical balance.

Evidence that schizophrenia mutations interfere with signalling in the brain was first uncovered by the same research team in 2011, and the new study confirms their results as well as providing further information.

Dr Pocklington said: “Our study marks a significant step towards understanding the biology underpinning schizophrenia which is an incredibly complex condition and has up until very recently kept scientists largely mystified as to its origins.”

Researchers called the finding a “breakthrough” and have expressed a shared hope that the study could help pave the way for new treatments to be developed for the disease.