Minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder

• Published in: Schizophrenia research Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 195 - 201
• Main Authors: Trixler, M, Tényi, T, Csábi, G, Szabó, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-12-2001; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Abnormalities, Multiple - epidemiology; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Bipolar Disorder - complications; Bipolar disorders; Case-Control Studies; Clinical stigmata; Congenital Abnormalities - epidemiology; Craniofacial Abnormalities - epidemiology; Humans; Hungary - epidemiology; Linear Models; Medical sciences; Minor physical anomalies; Mood disorders; Neuro-development; Odds Ratio; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder; Tongue - abnormalities; Hungary; Neuro-development; Minor physical anomalies; Clinical stigmata; Schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder; Mood disorder; Human; Embryonic development; Head; Prevalence; Central nervous system; Biological marker; Schizophrenia; Bipolar disorder; Developmental disorder; Psychosis; Morphogenesis; Etiology; Epigenetics; Morphological change; Face; Comparative study; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(00)00182-1

Objective. The prevalence of minor physical anomalies (MPAs) (prenatal errors of morphogenesis) was evaluated in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.
Method. A new modification of the Waldrop-scale was used to detect the presence or absence of 57 MPAs in 30 patients with schizophrenia, 30 with bipolar disorder, and in 30 matched normal controls.
Results. Patients with schizophrenia compared to normal controls had significantly higher rates of three minor malformations (furrowed tongue, flat occiput, primitive shape of ears) and those of one phenogenetic variant (wide distance between toes 1 and 2), and they also had a significantly higher rate of one minor malformation (primitive shape of ears), as compared to patients with bipolar disorder. In patients with bipolar disorder, furrowed tongue was significantly more common than in controls.
Conclusions. These results support an ‘early’ neuro-developmental model of schizophrenia.