Infants’ brains show early signs of schizophrenia
The Times of India quoted lead author John H. Gilmore, MD, professor of psychiatry and director, UNC Schizophrenia Research Center, as saying, “The finding allows us to start thinking about how we can identify kids at risk for schizophrenia very early and whether there are things that we can do very early on to lessen the risk.”
26 newborns studied
Researchers studied the brain development of 26 infants born to schizophrenic mothers. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound to get exact measurements of various ventricles and other brain structures.
It was known that the high-risk infants among male babies (born to schizophrenic mothers) had larger brains and larger fluid-filled spaces in the brain, called lateral ventricles.
On the other hand, infants whose mothers did not have schizophrenia did not fall in the high-risk category.
However, no difference was found in the brain size among girls involved in the study. This made the researchers add to the fact that severe schizophrenia patterns are usually seen in males.
The findings, however, do not essentially mean that boys with larger brains will develop schizophrenia.
The researchers are planning to follow the infants as they grow to determine changes in brain structure that correlate to development of schizophrenia. “This is just the very beginning. We’re following these children through childhood,” Gilmore was quoted by The Times of India as saying.
Other findings
Researchers further stated that having a first-degree relative with schizophrenia increased a person’s odds of developing the disorder to one in 10.
In addition, these people at times develop slight brain abnormalities but with few or no symptoms at all.
The results also required the study researchers to speculate if larger brain size was associated with an increased schizophrenia risk; a factor more commonly linked to autism.
This research provides the first signs that brain abnormalities causing schizophrenia can be diagnosed early in life. Researchers, therefore, stressed on improved detection procedures that will allow doctors to create new methods to prevent high-risk children from developing the disorder.
The study appears online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.