The neurodevelopmental basis of schizophrenia: clinical clues from craniofacial dysmorphology in northwest Ethiopia, 2020

BACKGROUND: The neurodevelopmental speculation of schizophrenia states that the pathogenesis of schizophrenia starts with early fetal or neonatal neurocraniofacial development rather than youthful adulthood when manic signs and symptoms are evident. However, there is no direct evidence of a pre-or peri-natal lesion associated with schizophrenia, rather indirect evidence of impaired development can be seen in macroscopic anatomical variations as well as microscopic immunohistochemical anomalies. One approach to studying neurodevelopmental disturbances among schizophrenic patients is somatic physical evidence or neurodevelopmental markers. Thus Our study aimed to assess the neurodevelopmental basis of schizophrenia clinical clues from anthropometric assessment of craniofacial dysmorphology among schizophrenic patients in North West Ethiopia 2019–2020. METHOD: Institutional-based comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted in Debre Markos comprehensive specialized hospitals in 190 schizophrenic patients, 190 1st-degree relatives, and 190 healthy controls. Data were collected using standard methods, entered into EpiData version 3.1, and exports to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Descriptive data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Welch ANOVA and post hoc comparison, a Games-Howell test, were conducted. Significance was set at a p-value of α = 0.05. Read back analysis was also conducted for the conclusion. RESULTS: Five hundred seventy study samples, male 375(65.8%), and female 195 (34.2%), were included in this study. The Games-Howell test revealed that the coronal arc length and sagittal arc length among schizophrenic patients were statistically significantly longer than the healthy controls (p < 0.006; p < 0.001, respectively). However, the difference between schizophrenic and healthy control regarding head circumference was marginally significant (p = 0.056). Schizophrenic patients had a significantly shorter total facial height (p < 0.001) and upper facial height (p < 0.001) than healthy controls. Regarding facial depth, schizophrenic patients had significantly shallow upper facial depth (p < 0.001), middle facial depth (p = 0.046), and lower facial depth (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: our finding indicated indirect evidence for disturbed craniofacial development in schizophrenia patients, and close and read back analysis of the result supported the neurodevelopmental basis of disease. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12868-021-00663-y.