Ενδομήτρια έκθεση στον καπνό του τσιγάρου, κίνδυνος εκδήλωσης σχιζοφρένειας και βαρύτητα αρνητικών/θετικών συμπτωμάτων

Abstract

Prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke causes chronic fetal hypoxia, dysregulation of endocrineequilibrium, and disruption of fetal neurodevelopment associated with brain malfunction, all of whichpotentially could induce vulnerability to schizophrenia. A total of 212 schizophrenia patients aged 14-30 years, and 212 matched controls were studied. Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure of theschizophrenia patients was compared to that of the normal controls by applying logistic regressionanalysis and controlling for several confounding factors The outcomes of interest were comparison ofthe frequency of maternal and paternal smoking between patients and controls as well as the severity ofpositive and negative symptoms between the offspring of smoking and nonsmoking parents.Furthermore, we investigated the relative frequency of subtypes of schizophrenia among offspring ofsmoking and non-smoking parent. Among the mothers of schizophrenia patients and controls, 92(43.4%) and 46 (21.7%) smoked, respectively. Maternal smoking during pregnancy had a significantunique contribution on increasing the risk for development of schizophrenia (p=0.001), and a greaterseverity of negative symptoms (p=0.023). Simultaneously, logistic regression analysis showed thatmaternal smoking during pregnancy had significantly unique contribution to increased risk for thedevelopment of schizophrenia with possible ratio = 2.32, 95% CI = 1.41-3.81, p = 0.001 and frequencyof non-paranoid subtypes as potential ratio = 2.94,95% CI = 1.50-5.76, p = 0.002. Paternal smokingdid not have a significant effect on the risk of schizophrenia, or severity of negative symptoms. Thefindings suggest that maternal smoking during pregnancy puts offspring at an increased risk for laterschizophrenia, with increased severity of negative symptoms. Given the wide practice of smokingduring pregnancy, fetal exposure to tobacco smoke could be a major preventable neurodevelopmentalfactor that increases vulnerability to schizophrenia.