Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:64-68
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Childhood-onset schizophrenia: biological markers in relation to clinical characteristics
J Alaghband-Rad, SD Hamburger, JN Giedd, JA Frazier and JL Rapoport
Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships
between clinical and neurobiological measures of childhood-onset
schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that there would be a more striking
pattern in the rare cases with very early onset than is seen in subjects
with later onset. METHOD: Premorbid, clinical, prenatal, perinatal, and
magnetic resonance imaging brain measures were examined in 29 children and
adolescents who met the DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia with onset
before age 12. Specifically, gender, premorbid adjustment, and clinical
symptoms were examined in relation to cerebral volume, ventricular volume,
and maternal obstetrical complications. RESULTS: Males were more likely to
have had an insidious onset than females. There was a significant negative
correlation between score on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative
Symptoms and total cerebral volume. CONCLUSIONS: These neurobiological
associations support the continuity of early-onset schizophrenia with the
later-onset disorder; the striking association between smaller cerebral
volume and negative symptoms suggests a more homogeneous or more potent
neurobiological basis for very early-onset schizophrenia.
