Pneumoencephalography, brain imaging studies and neuropathology research have demonstrated anomalies in the brains of schizophrenics. Empirical studies have suggested that the source of these brain anomalies may be complications of pregnancy and delivery. The research on obstetrical complications (OCs) and schizophrenia has utilized two basic methods to obtain information on the OCs of the adult schizophrenic subjects: recall by the mother of the adult schizophrenic and clinical records produced by mid-wives or obstetrical nurses. The clinical records, have the great advantage of being unbiased and prospective. Studies have, however, shown clinical records to be incomplete; almost no information is included on pregnancy complications. In view of this, in the 60's we prepared two perinatal research samples for utilization at this time. Both contain a data bank of excellent information on pregnancy and delivery collected during fetal development and at birth. The first is a Finnish sample of 171 children with schizophrenic mm others (HR offspring) and matched controls; the second is a birth cohort of 9,006 consecutive deliveries which formed the basis of a very carefully conducted Danish perinatal research project. Both samples were born in the early 60's; the offspring are now adults. We intend to examine them with diagnostic interviews and CT-scans to test the following chief hypotheses: 1) adult schizophrenics will have suffered a higher rate of severe OCs than controls. 2) delivery complications will interact with genetic risk to increase the risk of schizophrenia and the risk of ventriculomegaly. 3) genetic risk will relate positively to increase in cortical and cerebellar dysgenesis. 4) type and severity, of OCs in HR offspring will influence the type of schizophrenic symptoms displayed in adulthood.
