Objective:The authors examined videotaped behaviors of children who developed schizophrenia as adults and of comparison subjects to disclose possible social and neuromotor deficits foreshadowing later development of schizophrenia. Method:In 1972, a sample of 265 11-13-year-old Danish children were filmed under standardized conditions while they were eating lunch. The examination was part of a larger study investigating early signs of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Many of the subjects had a parent with schizophrenia, leaving them at high risk for developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. In 1991, adult psychiatric outcome data were obtained for 91.3% (N=242). This study systematically analyzed the videotapes to determine whether the children who developed schizophrenia as adults evidenced greater social and/or neuromotor deficits than children who did not develop a psychiatric disorder and children who developed other psychiatric disorders. Results:The findings from this study suggest that the brief videotaped footage of children eating lunch was able to discriminate between the individuals who later developed schizophrenia and those who did not. Specifically, the preschizophrenia children evidenced differences on measures of sociability and general neuromotor functioning (among boys) from the children who developed other psychiatric disorders and the children who did not develop a psychiatric disorder. Conclusions:Social and neuromotor deficits specific to children who develop schizophrenia in adulthood provide further support for a neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia. The majority of individuals with schizophrenia manifest the illness in the second or third decade of life (1), yet subclinical signs of neuropathology are already evident during adolescence (2) and possibly as early as birth and infancy (3-5). Although some research suggests that the early signs of schizophrenia are nonspecific and that no one sign predicts schizophrenia uniquely and effectively (6), other studies indicate that both social and neuromotor abnormalities in childhood are reliable developmental precursors of the disorder.Social deficits exhibited before the onset of schizophrenia suggest that interpersonal difficulties precede recognizable psychotic symptoms. A unique study by Walker and colleagues (7) evaluated childhood home movies of schizophrenia patients and comparison subjects. The authors reported that girls who later developed schizophrenia showed fewer expressions of joy than did same-sex comparison subjects from infancy through adolescence; preschizophrenia boys showed nonsignificantly more negative expressions in preadolescence and early adolescence.Longitudinal study of "high-risk" individuals (those having at least one parent with schizophrenia) provides an alternative opportunity to view the developmental course of schizophrenia. Several investigations have followed high-risk subjects through the age of risk, providing information regarding premorbid functioning and adult diagnostic outcome. In an inve...

Objective This study examined whether motor coordination difficulties assessed in childhood predict later adult schizophrenia-spectrum outcomes. Method A sample of 265 Danish children was administered a standardized childhood neurological examination in 1972 when participants were between 10 and 13 years old. Of the sample, 244 children had available diagnostic information as adults. Participants fell into one of three groups. Children whose mothers or fathers had a psychiatric hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia comprised the first group (N=94). Children who had at least one parent with a psychiatric record of hospitalization for a non-psychotic disorder comprised the second group (N=84). Children with no parental records of psychiatric hospitalization comprised the third group (N=66). Psychiatric outcomes of the offspring were assessed through psychiatric interviews in 1992 when participants were between 31 and 33 years of age, as well as through a scan of national psychiatric registers completed in May 2007. Results Results indicate that children who later developed a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (n=32) displayed significantly higher scores on a scale of coordination deficits compared with those who did not develop an identified mental illness (n=133). Conclusions Results from this study provide further support for the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia, and underscore the potential role of cerebellar and/or basal ganglia abnormalities in the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Minor physical anomalies may provide important clues to understanding schizophrenia spectrum disorders from a neurodevelopmental perspective. Minor physical anomalies appear to signal stressors relevant to schizophrenia spectrum development, especially in those at genetic risk for schizophrenia.

Objective: To characterize physical and mental health in trauma-exposed refugees by describing a population of patients with regard to background, mental health history, and current health problems; and to identify pre- and post-migratory predictors of mental health. Method: All patients receiving treatment at the Psychiatric Trauma Clinic for Refugees in Copenhagen from April 2008 to February 2010 completed self-rating inventories on symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety as well as level of functioning and quality of life before treatment. Then, associations of pre and post-migratory factors with mental health were explored using linear and logistic regression and Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Results: Among the patients, the prevalence of depression, somatic disease, pain, psychotic symptoms co-existing with PTSD and very low level of functioning was high. Persecution, being an ex-combatant and living currently in social isolation were significantly associated with PTSD arousal symptoms and self-reported pain. Conclusions: New treatment modalities should seek to address all of the symptoms and challenges of the patients including psychotic and somatic symptoms and social isolation, and studies of treatment effect should clarify all co-morbidities so that comparable populations can be included in treatment evaluation studies.