MATERNAL INFECTIOUS ILLNESS DURING PREGNA NCY IN DIFFERENT SUBGROUPS OF CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIA - SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENTIATED NOSOLOGY

In a retrospective study, 16 of 80 mothers of chronic DSM III-R schizo phrenics reported having had a serious infectious disease during pregn ancy. Eleven of the infections had occurred during the second trimeste r. Influenza and the common cold with fever were frequent. Ten of 80 f emale controls also recalled having had an infectious illness during p regnancy. Compared to the controls, mothers of schizophrenics reported more infectious illness during pregnancy, particularly during the fif th month of gestation (p < 0.05). Mothers of familial and of sporadic DSM III-R schizophrenics reported equal frequencies of infections in p regnancy. In contrast, when Leonhard's classification of psychoses was applied, significant differences appeared. Infections during pregnanc y were scarcely found in unsystematic schizophrenics (mainly genetical ly determined according to Leonhard). In systematic schizophrenics (ma inly exogenously determined according to Leonhard), a significantly hi gher frequency of infectious diseases was reported for the second trim ester as compared both to controls (p < 0.01) and to unsystematic schi zophrenics (p < 0.001). Infections during the fifth month of gestation were exclusively reported in systematic schizophrenics. Thus, in the systematic forms of schizophrenia infections during the second trimest er and particularly during the fifth month of gestation seem to play a n important role in the etiology and seem to be of causal importance f or the various cytoarchitectural abnormalities detected in the central nervous system of schizophrenics.