Obstetric complications and early-onset schizophrenia: a case-control study

Aim. Research has suggested an association between obstetric complications and schizophrenia. Methods. In this study data based oil the obstetric birth case-notes of adolescent patients with diagnosed schizophrenia were compared to those of normal "healthy" same-aged control subjects. Results. Complications involving a clear damaging potential (Level >4 in the McNeil-Sjostrom Scale) were seen significantly more often among cases than control subjects: 7% vs 2%, Fisher's exact test p<0.04, odds ratio 4, 95%, CI: 1.048-15.26. Discussion. Brain-damaging due to obstetric complications would seem to be a possible antecedent to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Moreover, results support the evidence that obstetric adversity exerts an independent influence oil the age at first presentation with schizophrenia. This finding suggests the existence of a causal relationship between obstetric adversity and age at onset of schizophrenia even if the small samples size limits the power of this study.