Epidemiological Studies of Prenatal and Childhood Infection and Schizophrenia

Abstract

Certain infectious agents can target the brain and interfere with its growth, development, and/or function. A number of studies indicate that exposure to common infectious agents during fetal and postnatal life may also contribute to the later development of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses. Epidemiological studies of maternal infections during pregnancy have provided somewhat contradictory results with regard to infections in general but have reported surprisingly consistent associations with specific maternal exposures such as Toxoplasma gondii. Childhood is also beginning to emerge as a sensitive period for the influence of infections including infectious agents not known to target the brain. Recent studies have associated childhood infections not only with a later diagnosis of schizophrenia but also with impaired cognitive function. Importantly, independent studies indicate that the associations between early life infection and the later development of schizophrenia are not explained by factors shared between related individuals or by genetic liability for schizophrenia.