title: Study of minor physical anomalies in complete nuclear Mexican families. Evidence of neurodevelopmental problems in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Minor physical anomalies (MPA) are dysmorphic features that reflect deviations in early development, are morphological variants that appear during the first trimester of pregnancy and could be used as a marker of disease risk in susceptible people. The literature agrees that the number of MPA is higher in patients with schizophrenia compared with their relatives and healthy subjects. The purpose of this study is to compare the MPA, assessed using the Gourion Scale, in complete nuclear families (families with a member with schizophrenia and control families) by determining the MPA mean, concordance and heritability for the total score on the MPA Gourion Scale for each anomaly.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 60 families with at least one schizophrenic patient (284 members) and 61 control families (249 members).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean total score for the scale was 5.72 ± 2.3 MPA in the case of families with at least one schizophrenic patient and 1.8 ± 4.46 MPA for control families. The average for families of patients without considering the patient in the analysis was 5.59 ± 2.3 MPA; for patients, the mean was 6.14 ± 2.4 MPA. In the analysis by anomaly differences were found only in eleven anomalies found no evidence of heritability or concordance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MPA occur more frequently in patients, but a pattern of low consistency between them persists. It is concluded that MPA could be a marker of neurodevelopmental problems, but it is not suitable to consider them a Gourion scale as endophenotype.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Psiquiátrico Fray Bernardino Álvarez, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ambrosio-Gallardo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, México City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cruz-Fuentes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heinze-Martin
authors.affiliation: Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Sociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, México City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Caraveo-Anduaga
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Apoyo Académico, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, México City, Mexico.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cortés-Sotres
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology