DOES SOCIAL DEPRIVATION DURING GESTATION AND EARLY LIFE PREDISPOSE TO LATER SCHIZOPHRENIA

We employed a case-control study design to investigate whether schizophrenic patients differed from non-psychotic psychiatric patients in terms of place of birth and paternal occupation. ''Cases'' were first-contact schizophrenic patients ascertained from the Camberwell Cumulative Psychiatric Case Register. ''Controls'' were the next (non-psychotic) patient on the Register matched for age and sex. In comparison with controls, cases were more likely to have: (1) been born in the deprived inner-city Camberwell catchment area (odds ratio 2.3), and (2) had fathers who had ''manual'' as opposed to ''non-manual'' occupations (odds ratio 2.1). The results were compatible with the notion that socio-economic deprivation during gestation and early life predisposes to later schizophrenia.