Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:32:17.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: a computed tomographic study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael J. Owen ,
Shôn W. Lewis  and
Robin M. Murray
Michael J. Owen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Shôn W. Lewis
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Robin M. Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr M. J. Owen, Genetics Section, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

All patients aged 16–50 years who had been discharged from the Maudsley Hospital over a 4-year period with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were ascertained retrospectively. Case records were rated blindly for a history of obstetric complications (OCs). Sixty-one patients who satisfied the RDC for schizophrenia had undergone CT scanning. Those with a definite history of OCs presented at an earlier age. In this group widening of cortical sulci and fissures was more strongly correlated with VBR than in subjects without OCs. Moreover, large VBRs when accompanied by widened cortical sulci and fissures occurred more commonly in subjects with OCs than in those without. These results support the hypothesis that OCs, or a factor associated with them, lead to brain damage of aetiological significance in some cases of schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , May 1988 , pp. 331 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

DeLisi, L. E., Goldin, L. R., Hamovit, J R., Maxwell, M. E., Kurtz, D. & Gershon, E. S. (1986) A family study of the association of increased ventricular size with schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 43, 148–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, M. F., Satz, P., Soper, H. V. & Kharabi, F. (1987). Relationship between physical anomalies and age at onset of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 144, 666–667.Google Scholar
Gurling, H. M. D., Reveley, M. A. & Murray, R. M. (1984). Increased cerebral ventricular volume in monozygotic twins discordant for alcoholism. Lancet i, 986–988.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Husband, J. & Kreel, L. (1976). Cerebral ventricular size and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Lancet ii, 924–926.Google Scholar
Kinney, D. K. & Jacobsen, B. (1978). Environmental factors in schizophrenia: new adoption study evidence. In The Nature of Schizophrenia. New Approaches to Research and Treatment (ed. Wynne, L. C.Cromwell, R. C. & Matthysse, S.), pp. 38–51. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Lancet, (1984). Editorial: Ischaemia and haemorrhage in the premature brain. Lancet ii, 847–848.Google Scholar
Lancet, (1985). Editorial: Post-haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation in infants. Lancet ii, 1280–1282.Google Scholar
Lane, E. A. & Albee, G. W. (1966). Comparative birth weights of schizophrenics and their siblings. Journal of Psychology 64, 227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, S. W. & Murray, R. M. (1987). Obstetric complications, neurodevelopmental deviance and risk of schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research 21, 413–421.Google Scholar
Lewis, S. W., Reveley, A. M., Reveley, M. A., Chitkara, B. & Murray, R. M. (1987). The familial-sporadic distinction as a strategy in schizophrenia research. British Journal of Psychiatry (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, W. J. (1861–1862). On the influence of abnormal parturition, difficult labours, premature birth, and asphyxia neonatorum, on the mental and physical condition of the child, especially in relation to deformities. Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London 3, 293–344.Google Scholar
McNeil, T. F. (1986). Perinatal factors in the development of schizophrenia. In Biological Perspectives in Schizophrenia (ed. Helmchen, H. and Henn, F. A.), pp. 125–138. Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
McNeil, T. F. & Kaij, L. (1978). Obstetric factors in the development of schizophrenia: complications in the births of preschizophrenics and in reproduction by schizophrenic parents. In The Nature of Schizophrenia (ed. Wynne, L. CCromwell, R. L. and Matthysse, S.), pp. 401–429. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Murray, R. M., Lewis, S. W. & Reveley, A. M. (1985). Toward an aetiological classification of schizophrenia. Lancet i, 1023–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nasrallah, H. A., McCalley-Whitters, M. & Jacoby, C. G. (1982). Cortical atrophy in schizophrenia and mania: a comparative CT study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 43, 439–441.Google Scholar
Nasrallah, H. A., Kuperman, S., Jacoby, C. G., McCalley-Whitters, M. & Hamra, B. (1983). Clinical correlates of sulcal widening in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research 10, 237–242CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, M J. & Lewis, S. W. (1986). Lateral ventricular size in schizophrenia. Lancet ii, 223–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, M J.Lewis, S. W. & Murray, R. M. (1987). Obstetric complications and cerebral abnormalities in schizophrenia. In Etiopathogenic Hypotheses of Schizophrenia, (ed. Sacchetti, E.). MTP Press: Lancaster. (In the press.)Google Scholar
Owens, D. G. C, Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Jagoe, J. R. & Kreel, L. (1985). Lateral ventricular size in schizophrenia: relationship to the disease process and its clinical manifestations. Psychological Medicine 15, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oxiensterna, G., Bergstrand, G., Bjerkenstedt, L., Sedvall, G. & Wik, G. (1984). Evidence of disturbed CSF circulation and brain atrophy in cases of schizophrenic psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 654–661.Google Scholar
Parnas, J., Schulsinger, F., Teasdale, T. W., Schulsinger, H., Feld-man, P. M. & Mednick, S. A. (1982). Perinatal complications and clinical outcome within the schizophrenia spectrum. British Journal of Psychiatry 140, 416–420.Google Scholar
Pasamanick, B. (1961). Epidemiologic investigations of some prenatal factors in the production of neuropsychiatric disorder In Comparative Epidemiology of the Mental Disorders (ed. Hoch, P. H. and Zubin, J.), pp. 260–275. Grune & Stratton: London.Google Scholar
Pearlson, G. D., Garbacz, D. J., Moberg, P. J., Ahn, H. D. & De Paulo, J. R. (1985). Symptomatic, familial, perinatal and social correlates of computerised axial tomography (CAT) changes in schizophrenics and bipolars. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 173, 42–50.Google Scholar
Pollack, M. & Greenberg, I. M. (1966). Paranatal complications in hospitalised schzophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients. Journal of the Hillside Hospital 15, 191.Google Scholar
Pollack, M., Levenstein, S & Klein, D. F. (1968). A three-year post-hospital follow up of adolescent and adult schzophrenics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 38, 94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prechtl, H. F. R. (1967). Neurological sequelae of prenatal and perinatal complications. British Medical Journal iv, 763–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quitkin, F., Rifkin, A. & Klein, D. F. (1976). Neurological soft signs in schizophrenia and character disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 845–853CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reveley, A. M., Reveley, M. A. & Murray, R. M. (1984). Cerebral ventricular enlargement in non-genetic schizophrenia: a controlled twin study. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 89–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J. K. A. (1980). The use of the CT scanner in psychiatry M.Phil. Thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. K. A. & Lishman, W. A. (1984). The use of the CAT head scanner in psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry 145, 152–158.Google Scholar
Ron, M. A. (1983). The alcoholic brain: CT scan and psychological findings. Psychological Medicine Monograph Suppl. 3, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rosanoff, A. J., Handy, L. M., Rosanoff-Plesset, I. & Brush, S.(1934). The etiology of so-called schziphrenic psychoses. American Journal of Psychiatry 91, 247–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulsinger, F., Parnas, J., Petersen, E. T., schulsinger, H., Teasdale, T. W., Mednick, S. A., Moller, L. & Silverton, L. (1984). Cerebral ventricular size in the offspring of schzophrenic mothers: a preliminary study. Archives of General Psychiatry 41, 602–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978). Research Diagnostic Criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 34, 773–779.Google Scholar
Synek, V. & Reuben, J. R. (1976). The ventricular brain ratio using planimetric measurement of EMI scans. British Journal of Radiology 49, 233–237.Google Scholar
Turner, S. W., Toone, B. K. & Brett-Jones, J. R. (1986). Computed tomographic scan changes in early schizophrenia-preliminary findings. Psychological Medicine 16, 219–226.Google Scholar
Volpe, J. J. (1981). Neurology of the Newborn. W. B. Saunders. Philadelphia.Google ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. R., Torrey, E. F., Neophytides, A. N. & Wyatt, R. J. (1979). Structural abnormalities in the cerebral cortex of chronic schizophrenic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 36, 935–939.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. R. & Wyatt, R. J. (1982). Brain morphology in schizophrenia: in vivo studies. In Schizophrenia as a Brain Disease (ed. Henn, G. and Nasrallah, N. A.), pp. 148–175. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Wenar, C. (1963). The reliability of developmental histories. Psychosomatic Medicine 25, 505–509.Google Scholar
Woerner, M. G., Pollack, M. & Klein, D. F. (1971). Birth weight and length in schzophrenics, personality disorders and their siblings. British Journal of Psychiatry 118, 461.Google Scholar
Woerner, M. G., Pollack, M. & Klein, D. F. (1973). Pregnancy and birth complications in psychiatric patients: a comparison of schizophrenic and personality disorder patients with their siblings. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 49, 712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed