Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Schizophrenia and Pregnancy
I had never heard of there being a relationship between pregnancy and Schizophrenia. It is interesting that what happens in the womb could produce an illness that isn't seen until almost twenty years later. In the Temple University article it discusses the different infections or illnesses that the mother could be exposed to and that research shows a link between the mother contracting the illness and the child developing schizophrenia. Because most illnesses can not cross the placenta the researcher, Laura Ellman believed that the cause is more related to the mothers own biological reaction to the illness. The researcher, Ellman states that "increases in maternal levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), one of the proinflammatory cytokines produced when fighting infection during pregnancy" seems to have the greatest impact to off spring that develop schizophrenia. However, she also states that because not all children of mothers who have increased IL-8 develop schizophrenia that there must also be some other predisposition that links the biological reaction to the illness and the ultimate development of schizophrenia. The book discusses that rates of Schizophrenia increased among children born to mothers that had Rubella, herpes, and other infections. Ellman discusses the flu which is much easier to contract than say Rubella or other infections so it does seem to make a stronger argument that there is another variable required in order to develop schizophrenia. I do think that it makes a very strong case for women who want to get pregnant to make sure that they have all of their immunizations and practice rigid infection control during their pregnancy.
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it is interesting that without realizing, some factors could lead the new born to have schizophrenia, even thought those factors were before the birth. in other words future mothers should be even more careful during the pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI also found this part about the placenta working like the blood brain barrier intriguing. I totally agree with you the studies were done with diseases and viruses that are not as common like the flu. It also makes sense that if the virus or disease can’t pass the placenta but the child is still infected then there must be another ways that it affects the child, for example as the article said, it could be the mothers reaction to the viruses and diseases.
ReplyDeleteLike you I didn’t know about the relation of pregnancy and schizophrenia, but once you start to look at all the information that is out there it is kind of scary. At least for me it was a great deal of concern during my pregnancy the fact that I was always stressed out, and thought about all the things that could happen to my baby that I went and talked to my doctor about it, but never thought of schizophrenia as one of the many risks that a pregnant woman had to be confronted. In the article that you posted it states that the flu, viruses, and other infections elevate the risk of schizophrenia, of course not all of the women infected with the flu or viruses will develop it, but still the chance increases. I think this information should be distributed more at the doctor’s office to informed the new mothers of women who are planning on becoming pregnant and letting them know that even the likelihood is small, there still is a chance in order for them to take better care of themselves, like better nutrition, avoid stress, and take precautions to avoid getting the flu or other type of viruses. The article is very interesting and I wish there was more info out there about the relationship between pregnancy and schizophrenia. Very good topic to follow.
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