Early developmental milestones and risk of schizophrenia: A 45-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort

Sørensen, Holger J.; Mortensen, Erik L.; Schiffman, Jason; Reinisch, June M.; Maeda, Justin; Mednick, Sarnoff A.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.01.029

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 118, Issue 1 , Pages 41-47, May 2010

Early developmental milestones and risk of schizophrenia: A 45-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort

Holger J. Sørensen
- Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
- Department of Psychiatry, Amager Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
Erik L. Mortensen
- Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
- Department of Environmental Health, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center of Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Corresponding author. Environmental Health, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5 A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Tel.: +45 35327839; fax: +45 35327748.
Jason Schiffman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD, USA
June M. Reinisch
- Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
- The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
Justin Maeda
- University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Sarnoff A. Mednick
- Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
- Social Science Research Institute, University of Southern California, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA

Received 22 September 2009; received in revised form 21 January 2010; accepted 29 January 2010. published online 24 February 2010.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between age of neuromotor milestone attainment and risk of adult schizophrenia. 5765 mothers of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort recorded 12 developmental milestones during the child's first year of life. Cohort members were followed until they were 46–48years old through record linkage with the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register. The age at which milestones were met in the 92 individuals who later developed schizophrenia was compared with milestone attainment in the 691 individuals who developed other psychiatric disorders and in the 4982 cohort controls who were never admitted to a psychiatric department. Group comparisons were adjusted for gender, mother's age, father's age, parental social status, breadwinner's education, single mother status and parity. Individuals who developed schizophrenia reached all developmental milestones later than controls and differed significantly from the controls with respect to the mean age of reaching the 12 milestones. Five developmental milestones in particular (smiling, lifting head, sitting, crawling, and walking) differed significantly. Individuals who later developed psychiatric disorders other than schizophrenia reached most developmental milestones earlier than those who developed schizophrenia, but later than the controls. The two psychiatric groups only differed significantly with respect to age of walking without support. The findings corroborate and methodologically extend previous research from prospective longitudinal cohort studies suggesting developmental delays observable as early as within the first year of life. These early developmental delays may not only characterize schizophrenia, but may be associated with a range of psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: Developmental milestones, Schizophrenia, Neurodevelopment