Signs of schizophrenia appear in infancy

UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—Researchers have provided the first evidence that brain abnormalities associated with the risk of schizophrenia can be detected in babies only a few weeks old.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder affecting one in 100 people worldwide. Most cases aren’t detected until a person starts experiencing symptoms like delusions and hallucinations as a teenager or adult. By that time, the disease has often progressed so far that it can be difficult to treat.

“It allows us to start thinking about how we can identify kids at risk for schizophrenia very early and whether there are things that we can do very early on to lessen the risk,” says lead study author John H. Gilmore, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research Center.

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