Maternal Herpes Virus Infection Raises Risk of Psychosis in Offspring
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Nov 13 - Elevated maternal levels of IgG and IgM, as well as antibodies to herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) prior to delivery, increase the risk of psychotic illness in adult offspring, according to an analysis of data from the prospective Collaborative Perinatal Project.
A total of 3078 pregnant women from Providence, Rhode Island, were enrolled between 1959 and 1966. Decades later, Dr. Stephen L. Buka, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues identified 27 adult offspring with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, bipolar disorder with psychotic features, brief psychosis, or psychosis not otherwise specified.
As they report in the Archives of General Psychiatry for November, the investigators selected two healthy controls matched for gender, race/ethnicity, and date of birth for each subject with psychosis.
Blood samples had been retained since the mothers' original enrollment in the study. In the last sample collected during pregnancy, total maternal IgG and IgM class immunoglobulins were significantly elevated among the women whose adult offspring developed a psychotic disorder, compared with controls. For maternal antibodies to HSV-2, the investigators identified a significant and graded association with adult psychosis in offspring.
There was no significant association between psychosis and antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii, rubella, cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia trachomatis, HSV type 1 or to proteins of human papilloma virus type 16. These findings make it unlikely "that the presence of antibodies to HSV-2 is a marker for increased sexual exposure or another sexually transmitted disease which could adversely affect the fetus," the investigators write.
A series of restricted analyses showed that the association between elevated antibodies and psychosis were not the result of the mother's socioeconomic status, history of psychiatric treatment, weight gain, or level of cigarette smoking. None of the offspring who developed a psychotic disorder had evidence of encephalitis or another major neurological abnormality apparent at birth.
The investigators suggest that the potential relationship between HSV-2 infection and psychosis in adult offspring is plausible given the tropism of HSV-2 for the infant central nervous system and previously reported instances of psychosis onset following HSV encephalitis.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001;58(11):000-000>>
|
