Study Finds Baby Brain Scans Show Signs of Schizophrenia

Posted on June 21, 2010

Most schizophrenia cases aren't detected until a person starts experiencing symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, as a teenager or an adult. The disease is difficult to treat by the time it has progressed so far that the patient is experiencing symptoms. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University say they have evidence that brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia risk are detectable in babies only a few weeks old. The research was published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry

The scientists used ultrasound and MRI to examine brain development in 26 babies born to mothers with schizophrenia. A person's risk of developing schizophrenia is significantly higher when a first-degree relative has the disease. Among boys, the high-risk babies had larger brains and larger lateral ventricles than babies of mothers with no psychiatric illness. The team plans to continue to measure these children's brains and track their language skills, motor skills and memory development.

"It allows us to start thinking about how we can identify kids at risk for schizophrenia very early and whether there things that we can do very early on to lessen the risk," said lead study author John H. Gilmore, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research Center.

Larger brain size in infants is also associated with autism. The researchers found no difference in brain size among baby girls in the study. The research say the findings fit the overall pattern of schizophrenia, which is more common, and often more severe, in males. The findings do not necessarily mean the baby boys with larger brains will go on to develop schizophrenia. The researchers say relatives of people with schizophrenia sometimes have subtle brain abnormalities but exhibit few or no symptoms.

THE MIND