Study uncovers childhood warning of schizophrenia

A Dunedin study suggests it may be possible to identify children at greatest risk of developing adult schizophrenia, and to provide much earlier help.

Research leader Dr Richie Poulton said the Otago University study was the first to show specific links between self-reported psychotic symptoms in children and schizophrenia in adults.

The study, involving the university's Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit, has already created a buzz of interest among international researchers.

It has just been published in the American Medical Association journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

A child psychiatrist tested nearly 1000 apparently normal 11-year-olds for delusional beliefs and hallucinations.

The children are involved in a long-term population study by the unit, and were interviewed again 15 years later.

Of those children who reported psychotic symptoms, a third were later formally diagnosed as having schizophrenia-like symptoms.

Another third showed "quite significant impairment" as adults, falling just short of a formal diagnosis of schizophrenia.

The study has thrown new light on the childhood origins of schizophrenia.

Getting to the root of this particular problem has been the holy grail of psychiatric research for more than 100 years.

Dr Poulton, the unit director, said more research was needed, but the findings raised the possibility of being able "to change things for the better" through much earlier intervention.

- NZPA