Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:1637-1639
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
Schizoid personality disorder after prenatal exposure to famine
HW Hoek, E Susser, KA Buck, LH Lumey, SP Lin and JM Gorman
Rosenburg Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
OBJECTIVE: The authors tested whether early prenatal exposure to famine was
associated with schizophrenia spectrum personality disorder in addition to
being associated with schizophrenia per se as shown in a previous study.
METHOD: The risk of schizoid personality disorder, as defined by ICD-6 to
ICD-9, in men at age 18 years was compared in birth cohorts that were
conceived at the height of the Dutch Hunger Winter famine and in unexposed
birth cohorts of 1944-1946 in the famine region of Holland. RESULTS: The
exposed cohort had a significantly greater risk (relative risk = 2.01) of
schizoid personality disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal nutritional deficiency
was associated with a greater risk of schizoid personality disorder in men
at age 18 years.
