Neurological deviations in newborns at psychiatric high risk

Neurological deviations on the third to fourth day of life were blindly assessed in 55 offspring of index women with histories of nonorganic psychoses and in 71 offspring of demographically similar control women with no history of psychosis. While the total index group did not differ from the total control group on rates of neurological deviation, the offspring of women with schizophrenia and cycloid psychosis showed more neurological deviations of a diverse nature than did their controls. The offspring of women with affective disorders had rates of deviation that were lower than those of controls and other index diagnostic groups. The differences observed were not sensitive to the narrowness of diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and affective disorder.