Longitudinal changes in hippocampal volume in the Edinburgh High Risk Study of Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is associated with structural brain abnormalities that are likely to be present before disease onset. It remains unclear to what extent these represent general vulnerability indicators or are associated with the developing clinical state itself. It also remains unclear whether such state or trait alterations may be evident at any given time-point, or whether they progress over time. To investigate this, structural brain scans were acquired at two time-points (mean scan-interval 1.87years) in a cohort of young unaffected individuals at high familial risk of schizophrenia (baseline, n=142; follow-up, n=64) and healthy controls (baseline, n=36; follow-up, n=18). Sub-cortical reconstructions of the hippocampus and amygdala were generated using the longitudinal pipeline available with Freesurfer. The high risk cohort was subdivided into individuals that remained well during the study (HR[well], baseline, n=68; follow-up, n=30), transient and/or partial symptoms that were insufficient to support a formal diagnosis (HR[symp], baseline, n=57; follow-up, n=26) and individuals that subsequently developed schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria (HR[ill], baseline, n=17; follow-up, n=8). Longitudinal change in the hippocampus and amygdala was compared, focusing first on overall differences between high-risk individuals and controls and then on sub-group differences within the high-risk cohort. We found a significantly altered developmental trajectory for all high risk individuals compared to controls, with controls showing a significant increase in hippocampal volume over time compared to those at high risk. We did not find evidence of altered longitudinal trajectories based on clinical outcome within the high risk cohort. These results suggest that an altered developmental trajectory of hippocampal volume is associated with a general familial predisposition to develop schizophrenia, as this alteration was not related to subsequent clinical outcome.

[Health checkups for children of 3-4 years of age in the Hauts-de-Seine department (France): results and prospects]. / Bilans de santé à 3-4 ans dans le département des Hauts-de-Seine (France) : résultats et perspectives.

INTRODUCTION: A mission of the department's State Maternal and Child Welfare Service is to organize the first checkups for children attending nursery schools. Here, we present the data of the Hauts-de-Seine department (France). PATIENTS AND METHOD: All of the PMI physicians who carry out checkups of children aged 3 to 4 years in the nursery schools of the department, contributed in this study by random drawing a sample of 1914 children, born in 2001, who were in the 1st year of nursery school in 2004-2005. The data gathered concern the children's way of living, their personal and family antecedents, vaccinations, the results of the clinical examination, tests of hearing, vision, and language, the existence of special health or educational programs for children with handicaps or illnesses (PPS and PAI), as well as the types of health insurance coverage the children have. RESULTS: The median age of the children at the time of the checkups was 3 years and 8 months. Half of the children had had some kind of childcare from before the age of 1 year. Two-thirds of the children spend more than 25h a week at school. Twenty-seven percent of the children had already been hospitalized, due to accidents in 5 % of the cases. One child out of 20 lives in a nuclear family that has experienced a serious familial disease. Thirty percent of the children speak or understand a second language. Fifteen percent of the children have poor health insurance coverage. 8.5 % of the children were overweight, 1.6 % were obese, 3.9 % were too thin. 2.5 % were in school with PAI programs,and 0.4 % with PPS programs. As a result of the checkups, 30.1 % of the children were referred (28.3 % for children who have both social security and mutual insurance), including 4.7 % for hearing tests, 13.7 % for vision, 4.4 % for dental checkups, 6.3 % for anomalies of the general examination, 2.7 % for psychological difficulties, 2.6 % for serious language difficulties. 28.9 % of the parents received advice (26.4 % for children who have both social security and mutual insurance) for psychological difficulties, language issues, DTCPH (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis and hemophilus) and Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccination boosters, and 56.1 % when we add the recommended hepatitis B vaccination. Children who are in schools in priority education zones represent 12.1 % of them. These 2 subgroups are distinguished for a large number of variables, which reflect the very early appearance of social inequalities in terms of health care. Children who went to the Child Welfare Service represented 35 % of the sample, children who are in schools in priority education zones represent 12.1 % of them. CONCLUSION: The complete and systematic medical exam for children in nursery school at the age of 3-4 years old, the key age for screening, give occasion to appreciate global children's health. There should be thinking on the national level about how to group the results of the departments.