Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Study to Examine SZ During Pregnancy

A new study to begin in Australia will provide some much needed information about how schizophrenia can be managed during a woman's pregnancy. There have been no past studies on this subject to date, despite the obvious importance of the information to countless women and families.

The study will enroll up to 100 women in Australia, and will look at the best way to clinically manage schizophrenia and other psychosis disorders during pregnancy. Investigators will set up a database of study subjects, and track the woman and her baby during pregnancy and through the first year of the baby's life.

There is little information about the effects of anti-psychotic medication on fetal development, although it is clearly critical for a woman with schizophrenia to continue some form of adequate treatment throughout her pregnancy to ensure her own health and that of her baby.

This will hopefully provide valuable information on how to best prevent schizophrenia and related mental illnesses in such high-risk populations as children born to parents with the disease.

For the full article, see "A new study will research the best way to treat women with psychosis who then become pregnant" (Nov 29 2004), available at http://www.news-medical.net/?id=6522.

Read more about the upcoming study from the sponsoring institution, The Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (http://www.alfred.org.au/).

See information on what parents can do in the pre- and post-natal periods to help reduce an infant's risk of developing schizophrenia. (http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevent3.htm)