[Correlations between endogenous and exogenous factors in the development of childhood schizophrenia]

The authors have examined 225 probands with childhood schizophrenia aged 4-14 yrs and their 519 first-degree relatives; 14.8% of the relatives (13.6% parents and 21.8% sibs) suffered from schizophrenia. An attempt is made to define the contribution of the genetic and environmental factors to the development of different clinical forms of childhood schizophrenia. The age when the disease manifests appears to depend on environmental factors. In all forms of schizophrenia (excluding slow progressive schizophrenia) the progressive development of the disease is associated with the impacts of exogenous factors. In the development of slow progressive schizophrenia the genetic factors play an important role.