Genetics, perinatal insult, and schizophrenia. The mechanism underlying an increased prevalence of perinatal complications among individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Recent studies on animals and humans point to the possibility that environmental events might impact on genetic predisposition to abnormal reactions after CNS lesion, causing deviations in the natural course of brain maturation that may result in neuropsychiatric disorders. The literature on the genetic basis of obstetric complications risk is here summarized and linked to the large body of studies indicating perinatal and prenatal adverse events as significant antecedents of schizophrenia. The hypothesis of an important link between obstetric complications on a genetic basis and the risk of schizophrenia is put forward, with an illustration of the studies that will allow accepting or rejecting the proposed hypothesis.