Neurological soft signs, minor physical anomalies and handedness in schizophrenia

Background: The hypothesis that schizophrenia is caused by a disruption of foetal development is derived principally from the observation of increased rates of various putative markers of abnormal foetal development in patien ts with schizophrenia. This study was undertaken to determine if there is a correlation between a number of markers of disrupted foetal development in a group of patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Three putative markers of disrupted foetal development in schizoph renia, minor physical anomalies, soft neurological signs and atypical hande dness, were examined in 46 patients with schizophrenia, Results: There were no significant correlations between levels of minor phy sical anomalies, neurological soft signs or handedness among the patients. Conclusions: The evidence from this study does not provide support for the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia. It is possible, however, th at each of the markers which we examined are caused by different types of f oetal insult or by a single type of insult acting at different times of ges tation.