CLINICAL CORRELATES OF POSTMORTEM BRAIN CHANGES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - DECREASED BRAIN-WEIGHT AND LENGTH CORRELATE WITH INDEXES OF EARLY IMPAIRMENT

From a postmortem study of the brains of 56 patients with schizophreni a and 56 controls, 38 cases whose clinical state had been objectively documented in life were examined to determine whether relations existe d between features of the illness and postmortem findings. Decreased b rain weight was significantly related (p < 0.05) to poor premorbid glo bal function and to poor academic record, and decreased brain length w as related to poorer premorbid global function (p < 0.05) and more sev ere negative symptoms. These relations are consistent with the view th at morphological changes in the brain occur early in the course of the disease-that is, they are in some sense ''developmental.'' An excess of ''focal damage'' in the patient group relative to controls was unre lated to the presence of morphological change or to features of illnes s, but was more common in female schizophrenic patients and was also c orrelated with evidence of cerebrovascular disease. This may possibly be due to a discrepancy between the groups in mode and cause of death.