title: [Minor physical abnormalities and clinical features in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Minor physical anomalies are nonspecific morphologic variants generated during gestation. They are markers of events (inherited and/or acquired) related with the 'neuroprogression' of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and may be differentially involved with their symptom profiles. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship of minor physical anomalies with positive syndrome, negative syndrome and general psychopathology in patients with schizophrenia or other functional psychoses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study of patients with schizophrenia or other functional psychoses consecutively hospitalized with an acute psychotic episode. Minor physical anomalies were evaluated with the Waldrop scale and clinical characteristics of psychosis were measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  41 patients with functional psychoses were evaluated: 32 (78%) with schizophrenia, 9 (21.9%) with psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. There was no relationship between the Waldrop scale score and score on the PANSS, its negative scale and its general psychopathology scale. The positive scale of the PANSS and the Waldrop scale were correlated in the whole sample (Spearman rho = 0.356; p = 0.022). In the group of patients with schizophrenia, the correlation was even greater (Spearman rho = 0.420; p = 0.017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The path from apparently premorbid stages to specific clinical pictures in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders is determined by the neurodevelopment, a dynamic process influenced by genetic inheritance and environmental injuries.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitari Psiquiatric Institut Pere Mata, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Reus, Tarragona, Espana. josefranco11@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valero
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Labad-Alquezar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult