Ljudmila, Efremovska, Elizabeta, Dadić-Nikoloska, Lidija, Todorovska, Vesela, Ivanovska-Maleska, Kristina, Pavlovska, Marija, Raleva
The frequency of minor physical anomalies -MPAs in patients with schizophrenia suggest an early disturbance in the development of the neuroectoderm. Since both, the CNS and the skin are derived from the same ectodermal tissue in utero, MPAs may be external indicators of abnormal brain development. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of MPAs in Macedonian patients with schizophrenia (n =146) and normal controls (n=114) using modified Waldrop Physical Anomaly scale. All patients were diagnosed schizophrenia according to ICD-10 (F. 20.0- F. 20.9). Signifilcantly higher incidence of MPAs was found in the schizophrenic patients compared with the controls. The discriminating effect of MPA-total score for schizophrenia patient versus normal control status was assessed by comparing the groups for each step of MPA hierarchical scoring. Specificity, sensitivity and predictive value of the MFA-Total score were determined. Total MPA scores >3 showed the most balanced set of sensitivity (73,97%),specificity (77,19%) and positive (80,59%) and negative predictive values (69,84%) for schizophrenia and were the 'cut off' scores that optimally discriminate schizophrenia from normal controls. Anthropological assessment of MPAs could be valuable in evaluation of risks for schizophrenia development. .
