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Head Circumference in ‘Preschizophrenic’ and Control Neonates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Thomas F. McNeil ,
Elizabeth Cantor-Graae ,
Lars G. Nordström  and
Thomas Rosenlund
Thomas F. McNeil*
Affiliation:
University of Lund Department of Psychiatry, Malmö General Hospital, S-214 01, Malmö, Sweden
Elizabeth Cantor-Graae
Affiliation:
University of Lund Department of Psychiatry, Malmö General Hospital, S-214 01, Malmö, Sweden
Lars G. Nordström
Affiliation:
University of Lund Department of Psychiatry, Malmö General Hospital, S-214 01, Malmö, Sweden
Thomas Rosenlund
Affiliation:
University of Lund Department of Psychiatry, Malmö General Hospital, S-214 01, Malmö, Sweden
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Head circumference, body weight, body length, and shoulder circumference at birth were studied in 70 RDC schizophrenic patients and 70 demographically matched controls from the same delivery series, using information recorded in the medical records at the time of birth. With preterm babies removed from both samples, only head circumference among preschizophrenic infants was significantly smaller than that of controls. Preschizophrenic infants also had a disproportionately smaller head circumference in relation to body length than did controls. Among the former, a small head circumference was systematically related to an absence of family history of psychosis, but was not related to season of birth or recorded pregnancy complications. The findings were strongest for females. The results suggest there is an unidentified non-genetic factor in schizophrenia that disturbs prenatal cerebral development.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 162 , Issue 4 , April 1993 , pp. 517 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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