Do maternal psychotic symptoms predict offspring's psychotic disorder? Findings from the Helsinki High-Risk Study

Maternal stress, prenatal medical illnesses and obstetric complications: Risk factors for schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder

Maternal stress and medical illnesses during early life are well-documented environmental indicators of an increased risk of schizophrenia. Few studies, conversely, have confirmed an association with major affective disorders. The present study examined the impact of maternal stress, medical illnesses and obstetric complications on the development of severe mental disorder in 240 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder and matched with 85 controls. Mothers of participants were asked about stressful events during pregnancy using the Social Readjustment Scale; information on prenatal/perinatal illnesses were acquired from medical records. Schizophrenia spectrum disorder was positively associated with maternal stress (OR = 2.16), infections (OR = 7.67), inadequate weight gain (OR = 9.52) during pregnancy, and peripartum asphyxia (OR = 4.00). An increased risk of bipolar disorder was associated with head circumference < 32 cm at birth (OR = 5.40) and inversely with inadequate weight gain (OR = 0.29). Major depressive disorder diagnosis was inversely related to inadequate weight gain (OR = 0.22). These results support a role for maternal stress, medical illnesses and obstetric complications as risk factors for subsequent severe mental illness in adulthood. Further research is needed, especially with regard to affective disorders.

Common or distinct pathways to psychosis? A systematic review of evidence from prospective studies for developmental risk factors and antecedents of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and affective psychoses

BACKGROUND

Identifying the unique and shared premorbid indicators of risk for the schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and affective psychoses (AP) may refine aetiological hypotheses and inform the delivery of universal versus targeted preventive interventions. This systematic review synthesises the available evidence concerning developmental risk factors and antecedents of SSD and AP to identify those with the most robust support, and to highlight remaining evidence gaps.

METHODS

A systematic search of prospective birth, population, high-risk, and case-control cohorts was conducted in Medline and supplemented by hand searching, incorporating published studies in English with full text available. Inclusion/exclusion decisions and data extraction were completed in duplicate. Exposures included three categories of risk factors and four categories of antecedents, with case and comparison groups defined by adult psychiatric diagnosis. Effect sizes and prevalence rates were extracted, where available, and the strength of evidence synthesised and evaluated qualitatively across the study designs.

RESULTS

Of 1775 studies identified by the search, 127 provided data to the review. Individuals who develop SSD experience a diversity of subtle premorbid developmental deficits and risk exposures, spanning the prenatal period through early adolescence. Those of greatest magnitude (or observed most consistently) included obstetric complications, maternal illness during pregnancy (especially infections), other maternal physical factors, negative family emotional environment, psychopathology and psychotic symptoms, and cognitive and motor dysfunctions. Relatively less evidence has accumulated to implicate this diversity of exposures in AP, and many yet remain unexamined, with the most consistent or strongest evidence to date being for obstetric complications, psychopathology, cognitive indicators and motor dysfunction. Among the few investigations affording direct comparison between SSD and AP, larger effect sizes and a greater number of significant associations are commonly reported for SSD relative to AP.

CONCLUSIONS

Shared risk factors for SSD and AP may include obstetric complications, childhood psychopathology, cognitive markers and motor dysfunction, but the capacity to distinguish common versus distinct risk factors/antecedents for SSD and AP is limited by the scant availability of prospective data for AP, and inconsistency in replication. Further studies considering both diagnoses concurrently are needed. Nonetheless, the prevalence of the risk factors/antecedents observed in cases and controls helps demarcate potential targets for preventative interventions for these disorders.

Psychotic symptoms as a continuum between normality and pathology

This paper reviews the presence of psychotic features in the nonclinical population. The results of a literature review suggest that delusional and hallucinatory experiences are more common in the general population than we may think, and that there could well be a symptomatic continuum between people who have and people who have not been diagnosed with indisputable psychotic disorders. In the nonclinical population, voices are mainly positive and nonthreatening. Conversely, in the psychiatric population, they tend to be frequent, intrusive, and distressing. We address the question of voices considered as various human experiences and describe the emergence of the nonclinical group of people who hear voices. We also review the pathophysiology of auditory hallucinations as an illustration of a neurophysiological anomaly, which is useful to understand psychosis or schizophrenia. The main obstacle in the category-specific thought is that it remains impossible to unmistakably demarcate the border around schizophrenia. It is evident that the creation of a boundary is always possible by using arbitrary criteria that improve interrater reliability but exclude a considerable number of people who share multiple common features with diagnosed people.

Mortality in offspring of mothers with psychotic disorder

BACKGROUND

Previous studies suggest that offspring of mothers with psychotic disorders have an almost two-fold higher mortality risk from birth until early adulthood. We investigated predictors of mortality from late adolescence until middle age in offspring of mothers with psychotic disorders.

METHOD

The Helsinki High-Risk Study follows up offspring (n=337) of women treated for schizophrenia spectrum disorders in mental hospitals in Helsinki before 1975. Factors related to mortality up to 2005 among offspring of these mothers was investigated with a survival model. Hazard rate ratios (HRR) were calculated using sex, diagnosis of psychotic disorder, childhood socio-economic status, maternal diagnosis, and maternal suicide attempts and aggressive symptoms as explanatory variables. The effect of family was investigated by including a frailty term in the model. We also compared mortality between the high-risk group and the Finnish general population.

RESULTS

Within the high-risk group, females had lower all-cause mortality (HRR 0.43, p=0.05) and mortality from unnatural causes (HRR 0.24, p=0.03) than males. Having themselves been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder was associated with higher mortality from unnatural causes (HRR 4.76, p=0.01), while maternal suicide attempts were associated with higher suicide mortality (HRR 8.64, p=0.03). Mortality in the high-risk group was over two-fold higher (HRR 2.44, p<0.0001) than in the general population, and remained significantly higher when high-risk offspring who later developed psychotic disorders were excluded from the study sample (HRR 2.30, p<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Offspring of mothers with psychotic disorder are at increased risk of several adverse outcomes, including premature death.

Clinical characterization of late- and very late-onset first psychotic episode in psychiatric inpatients

OBJECTIVES

The goals of this study were to investigate the prevalence and initial symptoms of the late-onset schizophrenia (LOS: >40 years) and very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOSLP: >60 years) nosological groups proposed by the International Late-Onset Schizophrenia Group.

DESIGN

This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, chart review study.

SETTING

The study was conducted at Centre Hospitalier Robert-Giffard (CHRG), Quebec City, Canada.

PATIENTS

The medical records of inpatients from the CHRG who presented with psychotic symptoms were analyzed.

MEASUREMENTS

Positive and negative symptoms were scored using the SAPS and SANS. Groups' symptoms were compared using chi(2), Fisher's exact tests, t tests, and exact Mann-Whitney tests. An exact conditional logistic regression analysis was performed to determine which clinical characteristics were the most predictive of the groups' classification.

RESULTS

Among the 1,767 unique, first-admission medical records reviewed, 23 (1.3%) inpatients developed their first psychotic symptoms at the age of 40-59 years old (LOS), and 13 (0.7%) at the age of 60 years and above (VLOSLP). LOS patients were more apathetic and presented more abnormal psychomotor activity than the VLOSLP. Persecutory delusions, auditory hallucinations, inappropriate social behavior, formal thought disorders and anhedonia were frequent in the two groups. A logistic regression model including psychomotor abnormalities was statistically relevant to predict the belonging to LOS group.

CONCLUSION

LOS and VLOSLP are rare. Abnormal psychomotor activity can properly differentiate VLOSLP and LOS. The nosological model proposed by the International Late-Onset Schizophrenia Group is at least partially supported by the present data.

Caregiver perceptions and needs regarding symptom attenuation in severe and persistent mental illness

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of caretakers who are coping with treated yet impaired mentally ill family members. Needs of the caretaker were described and areas for intervention were identified.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This qualitative study used the symbolic interaction paradigm of dramaturgical interviewing. Thirty-five caretakers participated in a 1.5- to 2-hr semistructured interview.

FINDINGS

Themes related to long-term effects of positive and negative symptoms and issues about accountability, responsibility, and planning for the future were most prominent.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Areas of intervention were identified as recognition and management of negative symptoms and counseling related to issues of accountability, responsibility, and future planning.