Prenatal exposure to famine and brain morphology in schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
The authors assessed the effects of nutritional deficiency during the first trimester of pregnancy on brain morphology in patients with schizophrenia.


METHODS
Nine schizophrenic patients and nine healthy comparison subjects exposed during the first trimester of gestation to the Dutch Hunger Winter were evaluated with magnetic resonance brain imaging, as were nine schizophrenic patients and nine healthy subjects who were not prenatally exposed to the famine.


RESULTS
Prenatal famine exposure in patients with schizophrenia was associated with decreased intracranial volume. Prenatal Hunger Winter exposure alone was related to an increase in brain abnormalities, predominantly white matter hyperintensities.


CONCLUSIONS
Nutritional deficiency during the first trimester of gestation resulted in an increase in clinical brain abnormalities and was associated with aberrant early brain development in patients with schizophrenia. Stunted brain development secondary to factors that affect brain growth during the first trimester of gestation may thus be a potential risk factor for developing schizophrenia.
Hulshoff Pol
H E
HE
Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands. h.e.hulshoff@azu.nl
Hoek
H W
HW
Susser
E
E
Brown
A S
AS
Dingemans
A
A
Schnack
H G
HG
van Haren
N E
NE
Pereira Ramos
L M
LM
Gispen-de Wied
C C
CC
Kahn
R S
RS
D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D013217:Starvation / Q000453:epidemiology*