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Schizophrenia is a multifactorial disorder that is associated with disturbed cerebral development. Structural brain-imaging studies have consistently shown that the volumes of some parts of the brain, particularly the mesial temporal lobes, are smaller in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy people. Whether these abnormalities of brain structure predate the onset of symptoms is not known.

100 people at high risk of developing schizophrenia (two or more first-degree or second-degree relatives affected), 20 patients in their first episode of schizophrenia, and 30 healthy controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. The volumes of regions of interest were measured by standard techniques.

Mean whole-brain volume was 1356 cm³ (SD 178) in the first-episode group, 1347 cm³ (122) in the high-risk group, and 1334 cm³ (149) in the controls (p=0·8). The mean volume of …