Gentic risk for schizophrenia, birthweight, and cerebral ventricular enlargement.

Recent work by Silverton, Finello, Mednick, and F. Schulsinger (1985) indicates a relation between low birthweight and cerebral ventricular enlargement, as assessed in adulthood, in a group of subjects at risk for schizophrenia. In the present study, we examined the role of low birthweight in ventricular enlargement and tested the hypothesis that low birth weight interacts with a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia in its association with enlarged ventricles. This study reports on 34 subjects of the Danish high-risk-for-schizophrenia prospective study. Birthweight, paternal schizophrenia spectrum disorder (PSSD), and an interaction term for these two variables were analyzed in a regression with ventricle-to-brain ratio (VBR) as the dependent variable. As in Silverton et al. (1985), birthweight significantly contributed to the variance in VBR. Although PSSD did not significantly contribute to the variance in VBR, there was a significant interaction effect of birthweight and PSSD on VBR. Results were discussed in terms of a diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)