Minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

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.