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Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: a computed tomographic study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael J. Owen ,
Shôn W. Lewis  and
Robin M. Murray
Michael J. Owen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Shôn W. Lewis
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Robin M. Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr M. J. Owen, Genetics Section, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF.
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Synopsis

All patients aged 16–50 years who had been discharged from the Maudsley Hospital over a 4-year period with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were ascertained retrospectively. Case records were rated blindly for a history of obstetric complications (OCs). Sixty-one patients who satisfied the RDC for schizophrenia had undergone CT scanning. Those with a definite history of OCs presented at an earlier age. In this group widening of cortical sulci and fissures was more strongly correlated with VBR than in subjects without OCs. Moreover, large VBRs when accompanied by widened cortical sulci and fissures occurred more commonly in subjects with OCs than in those without. These results support the hypothesis that OCs, or a factor associated with them, lead to brain damage of aetiological significance in some cases of schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , May 1988 , pp. 331 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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