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Abnormal infant neurodevelopment predicts schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Barbara Fish1, Kenneth S Kendler
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California-Los Angeles, USA. bfish@ucla.edu
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology
|August 12, 2005
Summary
Early detection of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZSD) is possible. Pandysmaturation (PDM), a sign of defective neural integration in infants, predicts later SZSD diagnosis, even in offspring of mothers with schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Psychiatric genetics
- Infant psychiatry
Background:
- Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZSD) have long been associated with developmental abnormalities.
- Early observations by Bender in the 1940s noted uneven maturation in children with schizophrenia.
Observation:
- A novel index, pandysmaturation (PDM), was developed to identify defective neural integration in infants.
- PDM is characterized by retarded cranial growth and erratic gross motor development.
- Infants were assessed multiple times from birth to two years, with psychiatric follow-up into adulthood.
Findings:
- Six infants exhibited PDM before eight months of age.
- All five individuals diagnosed with lifetime SZSD had documented PDM.
- PDM was significantly related to subsequent SZSD development (p < 0.0005).
- Infants of mothers with schizophrenia showed higher rates of PDM and SZSD.
Implications:
- Behavioral observations of aberrant neurodevelopment in infancy can precede SZSD.
- These findings support the hypothesis of early neurodevelopmental origins of SZSD.
- Early detection of PDM may enable timely intervention for at-risk infants.