Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Brain Structure in Schizophrenia
- 1Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Abstract
BackgroundSchizophrenia is widely considered a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by premorbid alterations in brain structure. Urban upbringing is a well-established environmental risk factor. However, urbanicity is often operationalised using broad population-based measures, leaving unclear which features of urban environments might affect the developing brain. This gap limits progress in understanding the pathways linking urban upbringing to schizophrenia, an increasingly important question as global urbanisation progresses. Cortical gyrification is especially informative in this context, as it is largely established before birth and remains relatively stable thereafter, offering a promising retrospective marker of early-life neurodevelopmental disturbances.
Study DesignIn this case-control MRI study, we examined whether residential environmental exposures at birth were associated with adult brain structure in 51 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 88 healthy controls matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Birth addresses were linked to geospatial measures of air pollution, green space, built volume, built surface and population density.
Study ResultsHigher air pollution at birth was associated with lower cortical gyrification in individuals with schizophrenia, but not in healthy controls, particularly in orbitofrontal and inferior frontal regions. No comparable associations were observed for grey matter volume, cortical thickness or surface area.
ConclusionsThese findings suggest that air pollution at birth may be linked to hypogyria in schizophrenia and provide a potential bridge between epidemiological research on urbanicity and neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia. In turn, this work provides a critical starting point for future work assessing how early urban environments become biologically embedded in schizophrenia risk.
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BibTeX
@misc{stano2026earlylife,
title = {{Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Brain Structure in Schizophrenia}},
author = {A. Stano and J. F. Quinones and D. J. Fischer and S. Weber and L. Klock and I. Amaya and R. C. Lorenz and S. Kuhn},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.22.26366215},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.22.26366215v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Brain Structure in Schizophrenia
AU - A. Stano
AU - J. F. Quinones
AU - D. J. Fischer
AU - S. Weber
AU - L. Klock
AU - I. Amaya
AU - R. C. Lorenz
AU - S. Kuhn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.22.26366215
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.22.26366215v1
AB - BackgroundSchizophrenia is widely considered a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by premorbid alterations in brain structure. Urban upbringing is a well-established environmental risk factor. However, urbanicity is often operationalised using broad population-based measures, leaving unclear which features of urban environments might affect the developing brain. This gap limits progress in understanding the pathways linking urban upbringing to schizophrenia, an increasingly important question as global urbanisation progresses. Cortical gyrification is especially informative in this context, as it is largely established before birth and remains relatively stable thereafter, offering a promising retrospective marker of early-life neurodevelopmental disturbances. Study DesignIn this case-control MRI study, we examined whether residential environmental exposures at birth were associated with adult brain structure in 51 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 88 healthy controls matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Birth addresses were linked to geospatial measures of air pollution, green space, built volume, built surface and population density. Study ResultsHigher air pollution at birth was associated with lower cortical gyrification in individuals with schizophrenia, but not in healthy controls, particularly in orbitofrontal and inferior frontal regions. No comparable associations were observed for grey matter volume, cortical thickness or surface area. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that air pollution at birth may be linked to hypogyria in schizophrenia and provide a potential bridge between epidemiological research on urbanicity and neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia. In turn, this work provides a critical starting point for future work assessing how early urban environments become biologically embedded in schizophrenia risk.
ER -