This literature review explores the research on the clinical presentation of childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) that was conducted in the period 1994–2004. A literature search was done using Internet search engines and psychological databases to collect English-language journal articles from 1994 onwards. Research indicates that COS is a stable diagnosis. Generally, there is a clear history of premorbid abnormalities, an insidious onset and a deteriorating course. For the majority of cases there seems to be a poor outcome. Despite the limitations in the research conducted thus far, findings provide important insights into COS and several possibilities for future research.
Abu-AkelA.CaplanR.GuthrieD.KomoS. (2000). Childhood schizophrenia: Responsiveness to questions during conversations. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 779–786
2.
Alaghband-RadJ.HamburgerS.D.GieddJ.N.FrazierJ.A.RapoportJ.L. (1997). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: Biological markers in relation to clinical characteristics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 64–68
3.
Alaghband-RadJ.McKennaK.GordonC.T.AlbusK.E.HamburgerS.D.RumseyJ.M.FrazierJ.A.LenaneM.C.RapoportJ.L. (1995). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: The severity of premorbid course. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1273–1283
4.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (1997). Practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 177s–193s
5.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2000). Summary of practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1580–1582
6.
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
7.
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition — Text Revision (DSM-IV TR).Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
8.
AsarnowJ.R. (1994). Annotation: Childhood-onset schizophrenia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1345–1371
9.
AsarnowJ.R.TompsonM.C. (1999). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: A follow-up study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, 9–12
AsarnowR.F.AsamenJ.GranholmE.ShermanT.WatkinsJ.M.WilliamsM.E. (1994). Cognitive/neuropsychological studies of children with a schizophrenic disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 647–669
BallmaierM.TogaA.W.SiddarthP.BlantonR.E.LevittJ.G.LeeM.CaplanR. (2004). Thought disorder and nucleus accumbens in childhood: A structural MRI study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 130, 43–55
14.
BedwellJ.S.KellerB.SmithA.K.HamburgerS.KumraS.RapoportJ. L. (1999). Why does postpsychotic IQ decline in childhood-onset schizophrenia?. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1996–1997
15.
BunkD.EggersC.KlapalM. (1999). Symptom dimensions in the course of childhood-onset schizophrenia. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, 29–35
16.
CalderoniD.WudarskyM.BhangooR.DelM.L.NicolsonR.HamburgerS.D.GochmanP.LenaneM.RapoportJ.L.LeibenluftE. (2001). Differentiating childhood-onset schizophrenia from psychotic mood disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1190–1196
17.
CaplanR. (1994a). Communication deficits in childhood schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 671–683
18.
CaplanR. (1994b). Thought disorder in childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 605–615
19.
CaplanR.GuthrieD.FoyJ.G. (1992). Communication deficits and formal thought disorder in schizophrenic children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 151–159
20.
CaplanR.GuthrieD.KomoS. (1996). Conversational repair in schizophrenic and normal children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 950–958
21.
CaplanR.GuthrieD.TangB.KomoS.AsarnowR.F. (2000). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 771–778
22.
EggersC. (1999). Some remarks on etiological aspects of early-onset schizophrenia. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, I/1–I/4
23.
EggersC.BunkD. (1997). The long-term course of childhood-onset schizophrenia: A 42-year follow-up. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 23, 105–117
24.
EggersC.BunkD.KrauseD. (2000). Schizophrenia with onset before the age of eleven: Clinical characteristics of onset and course. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 29–38
25.
EggersC.BunkD.VolbergG.RöpckeB. (1999). The ESSEN study of childhood-onset schizophrenia: Selected results. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, 21–28
26.
EliezS.ReissA.L. (2000). Annotation: MRI neuroimaging of childhood psychiatric disorders: A selective review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 679–694
27.
FaraoneS.BrownHendriks C.GlattS.J.TsuangM.T. (2002). Preventing schizophrenia and psychotic behaviour: Definitions and methodological issues. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 47, 527–537
28.
FrazierJ.A.Alaghband-RadJ.JacobsenL.LenaneM.C.HamburgerS.AlbusK.SmithA.McKennaK.RapoportJ.L. (1997). Pubertal development and onset of psychosis in childhood onset schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 70, 1–7
GreenW.H.Padron-GayolM.HardestyA.S.BassinM. (1992). Schizophrenia with childhood-onset: Phenomenological study of 38 cases. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 968–976
31.
HendrenR.L.DeBackerI.PandinaG. J. (2000). Review of neuroimaging studies of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders from the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 9815–9828
32.
JacobsenL.K.HongW.L.HommerD.W.HamburgerS.D.CastellanosF.X.FrazierJ.A.GieddJ.N.GordonC.T.KarpB.I.McKennaK.RapoportJ.L. (1996). Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements in childhood-onset schizophrenia: Comparison with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal controls. Biological Research, 40, 1144–1154
33.
JacobsenL.K.RapoportJ.L. (1998). Research update: Childhood-onset schizophrenia: Implications of clinical and neurobiological research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 697–712
34.
KaratekinC.AsarnowR.F. (1998). Working memory in childhood-onset schizophrenia and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Psychiatry Research, 80, 165–176
35.
KaratekinC. (1999). Exploratory eye movements to pictures in childhood-onset schizophrenia and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 35–49
36.
KellerA.JeffriesN.O.BlumenthalJ.CiasenL.S.LiuH.GieddJ.N.RapoportJ.L. (2003). Corpus callosum development in childhood-onset schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 62, 105–114
37.
KumraS.JacobsenL.K.LenaneM.ZahnT.P.WiggsE.Alaghband-RadJ.CastellanosF.X.FrazierJ.A.McKennaK.GordonC.T.SmithA.HamburgerS.RapoportJ.L. (1998). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: An open label study of olanzapine in adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 91–99
38.
KumraS.ShawM.MerkaP.NakayamaE.AugustinR. (2001). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: Research update. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 46, 923–930
39.
KumraS.WiggsE.BedwellJ.SmithA.K.ArlingE.AlbusK.HamburgerS.D.McKennaK.JacobsenL.K.RapoportJ.L.AsarnowR.F. (2000). Neuropsychological deficits in pediatric patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. Schizophrenia Research, 42, 135–144
40.
LaurielloJ.BustilloJ.KeithS.J. (1999). A critical review of research on psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 46, 1409–1417
41.
MadebaD.SmithL.M. (1999). Challenges in the establishing of a new service for children, adolescents and a family unit in the Northern Province (Abstract). Southern African Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 11, 95–96
42.
MatsumotoH.TakeiN.SaitoH.KachiK.MoriN. (1999). Childhood-onset schizophrenia and obstetric complications: A case-control study. Schizophrenia Research, 38, 93–99
43.
McKennaK.GordonC.T.LenaneM.KaysenD.FaheyK.RapoportJ.L. (1994). Looking for childhood-onset schizophrenia: The first 71 cases screened. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 636–644
44.
McKennaK.GordonC.T.RapoportJ.L. (1994) Childhood-onset schizophrenia: Timely neurobiological research. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 771–781
45.
MezaideM.BouchardS.GringrasN.RodriqueC.CharronL.CardinalA.RoyM.GauthierB.TremblayG.CôtèS.FournierC.BoutinP.HamelM.MèretteC.MartinezM. (1996). Long-term stability of diagnosis and symptom dimensions in a systematic sample of patients with onset of schizophrenia in childhood and early adolescence II: Positive/negative distinction and childhood predictors of adult outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 371–378
46.
MezaideM.GringrasN.RodriqueC.BouchardS.CardinalA.GauthierB.TremblayG.CôtèS.FournierC.BoutinP.HamelM.RoyM.MartinezM.MéretteC. (1996). Long-term stability of diagnosis and symptom dimensions in a systematic sample of patients with onset of schizophrenia in childhood and early adolescence I: Nosology, sex and age of onset. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 361–370
47.
NicolsonR.LenaneM.HamburgerS.D.FernandezT.BedwellJ.RapoportJ.L. (2000). Lessons from childhood-onset schizophrenia. Brain Research Reviews, 31, 147–156
RapoportJ.L.CastellanosF.X.GogateN.JansonK.KohlerS.NelsonP. (2001). Imaging normal and abnormal brain development: New perspectives for child psychiatry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 272–281
50.
RemschmidtH.F.SchultzE.MartinM.WarnkeA.TrottG. (1994). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: A history of the concept and recent studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 727–745
51.
RossR.G. (2003). Early expression of a pathophysiological feature of schizophrenia: Saccadi intrusions into smooth-pursuit eye movements in school-age children vulnerable to schizophrenia. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 468–476
52.
RussellA.T. (1994). The clinical presentation of childhood-onset schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 631–646
53.
RussellA.T.BottL.SammonsC. (1989). The phenomenology of schizophrenia occurring in childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 399–407
54.
SchaefferJ.L.RossR.G. (2002). Childhood-onset schizophrenia: Premorbid and prodromal diagnostic and treatment histories. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 538–545
55.
SpencerE.K.CampbellM. (1994). Children with schizophrenia: Diagnosis, phenomenology, and pharmacotherapy. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 713–725
56.
TompsonM.C.AsarnowJ.R.HamiltonBurney E.NewellL.E.GoldsteinM.J. (1997). Children with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: Thought disorder and communication problems in a family interactional context. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 421–429
57.
TsuangM.T.StoneW.S.FaraoneS.V. (2000). Toward reformulating the diagnosis of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1041–1050
58.
TsuangM.T. (2002). Understanding predisposition to schizophrenia: Toward intervention and prevention. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 47, 518–526
59.
VolkmarF.R. (1996). Childhood and adolescent psychosis: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 843–851
60.
World Health Organization (1992). International classification of diseases (ICD-10).Geneva: World Health Organization
