Fetal Head Growth and Head Circumference at Birth in Children of Women with Psychotic Disorders and Population-Based Controls.
Overview
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam – Sophia, 3015 CN Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Obstetrics and Prenatal Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam – Sophia, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3063 ND Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Care Ethics, University of Humanistic Studies, 3512 HD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Abstract
Background: Children of parents with psychotic disorders have a ˃50% increased risk to develop mental health problems, and over 30% have developed severe mental illness by early adulthood. Aberrant brain development may underly this familial risk. We aimed to investigate differences in brain development, reflected in fetal head circumference (HC) growth trajectories and HC at birth, between children of women with psychotic disorders and population-based controls.
Study Design: We collected fetal ultrasonography assessments at 20, 30, and 36 weeks of gestational age (GA) from medical records of N = 140 pregnant women having a psychotic disorder diagnosis and their N = 168 children. In the Generation R study, ultrasonography assessments were performed in the first, second, and/
Study Results: Using generalized additive mixed modeling, we observed decreased non-linear fetal HC growth for offspring of women with psychotic disorders vs. controls from 30.7 weeks GA onwards. At birth, no significant difference was observed (b = 0.22, 95% CI [–0.133 to 0.573]), although offspring exposed to maternal psychosis showed more obstetric complications and suboptimal birth outcomes, including lower birthweight (b = –136.1, 95% CI [–229.0 to –43.2]).
Conclusions: This study showed decreased fetal head growth during the third trimester and lower birthweight in children of women with psychotic disorders. Together, these findings highlight potential relevance of altered fetal head growth for later neurodevelopmental outcomes and provide directions for possible underlying mechanisms of risk transmission in psychosis.
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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 6 keywords, 15 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 52 references.
Cite
This paper
van Houtum, L. A. E. M., Koc, D., Grundeman, S. A., Duvekot, H. J., El Marroun, H., van Haren, N. E. M., & Bijma, H. H. (2026). Fetal Head Growth and Head Circumference at Birth in Children of Women with Psychotic Disorders and Population-Based Controls. Schizophrenia bulletin, 52(2), sbaf171. https://
BibTeX
@article{vanhoutum2026fe
author = {van Houtum, Lisanne A E M and Koc, Dogukan and Grundeman, Sterna A and Duvekot, Hans J and El Marroun, Hanan and van Haren, Neeltje E M and Bijma, Hilmar H},
title = {{Fetal Head Growth and Head Circumference at Birth in Children of Women with Psychotic Disorders and Population-Based Controls}},
journal = {Schizophrenia bulletin},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {52},
number = {2},
pages = {sbaf171},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
issn = {1787-9965},
doi = {10.1093/
url = {https://
pmid = {41015955},
pmcid = {PMC12996895}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - van Houtum, Lisanne A E M
AU - Koc, Dogukan
AU - Grundeman, Sterna A
AU - Duvekot, Hans J
AU - El Marroun, Hanan
AU - van Haren, Neeltje E M
AU - Bijma, Hilmar H
TI - Fetal Head Growth and Head Circumference at Birth in Children of Women with Psychotic Disorders and Population-Based Controls
T2 - Schizophrenia bulletin
J2 - Schizophr Bull
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 52
IS - 2
SP - sbaf171
SN - 1787-9965
PB - Oxford University Press
DO - 10.1093/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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