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Neuropsychophysiological study of children at risk for schizophrenia: a preliminary report
R L Hendren1, J Hodde-Vargas, R A Yeo
1Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, USA.
Objective:
This initial report, from an ongoing study, examines whether children who have symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum disorder display neuropsychological or neuroanatomic abnormalities similar to those seen in adults with schizophrenia.
Method:
Experimental subjects were 12 children between 8 and 12 years of age who displayed symptoms of early-onset schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder, as assessed through the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children. The experimental subjects were compared with 13 controls on neuropsychological test performance, magnetic resonance imaging measurements, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy results.
Results:
Findings from the first phase of this project reveal significant overall group differences for several morphometric magnetic resonance imaging measurements and all neuropsychological measures. Differences between the groups were found for amygdala volume, mesial temporal volume, callosal area, and anatomic asymmetry. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy data showed a trend toward group differences.
Conclusions:
These findings support a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia which postulates that environmentally or genetically programmed events in utero disrupt the establishment of fundamental aspects of brain structure and function.