User:Lindseyfturner106/Childhood schizophrenia

Childhood schizophrenia (also known as childhood-onset schizophrenia, and very early-onset schizophrenia) is similar in characteristics of schizophrenia that develops at a later age, but has an onset before the age of 13 years, and is more difficult to diagnose. Schizophrenia is characterized by positive symptoms that can include hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech; negative symptoms, such as blunted affect and avolition and apathy, and a number of cognitive impairments. Differential diagnosis is problematic since several other neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, language disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also have signs and symptoms similar to childhood-onset schizophrenia. Understanding COS has been found helpful in the diagnosis and treatment in adults with schizophrenia as it has given researchers a basis to extend off of.

Differentiating Childhood Schizophrenia from other similar disorders
'''Childhood schizophrenia can be difficult to diagnosis simply because of how many disorders mimic the symptoms of CS. Though it can be difficult, that is why it is important to examine the whole mental state of the child at that time. Individuals who experience disorders such as major depressive disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder and schizotypal personality disorder have all been known to have (exhibit) similar symptoms to children who have been diagnosed with CS. The three most common disorders that are difficult to distinguish are bipolar disorder (BD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). BD, ASD, and ADHD all have many commonalities with CS (proposed edit: overlap with symptom patterns in CS), but a few distinguishing factors helps differentiate the disorders. Understanding these differences is crucial to diagnosing the child.'''

'Individuals with b''ipolar disorder and childhood schizophrenia can both present psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behaviors. A distinguishing feature in childhood schizophrenia, the hallucination, aren't taking place during a 'depressive or manic' episode as it would for an individual diagnosed with bipolar disorder. An individual with bipolar disorder has both low and high moods while one with CS, exhibits elements of depression. '''

'''Autism spectrum disorder share many features that are present in CS such as disorganized speech, social deficits, and extremely bizarre and repetitive behaviors. A hallmark of CS and distinguishing factor is when hallucinations last longer than one month. Should this occur, further examinations are necessary to determine if the child has ASD or CS.'''

Unlike the previous two disorders, ADHD and CS have fewer commonalities. '''Both individuals who have been diagnosed with CS and ADHD may appear to exhibit a poor attention span and disorganization. "Psychotic episodes are absent in ADHD, a distinct difference from CS".'''

'''It is important to understand that children diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia have higher rates of comorbidity, so exploring all resources is necessary to properly diagnose the child. '''

Imaging
Brain imaging, such as CT and MRI scans, are currently only used to rule out brain abnormalities, and their benefit is very limited at that. Structural alterations have, however, been identified in schizophrenia, most commonly enlarged ventricles, and decreased grey matter volume in the cortex and hippocampus, and white matter growth is slower. Studies using functional MRI have also shown that altered connectivity and activity in present in schizophrenia.

Genetic
There is "considerable overlap" in the genetics of childhood-onset and adult-onset schizophrenia, but in childhood-onset schizophrenia there is a higher number of "rare allelic variants". '''There have been several genes indicated in children diagnosed with schizophrenia that include: neuregulin, dysbindin, D-amino acid oxidase, proline dehydrogenase, catechol-Omethyltransferase, and regulator of G protein signaling. There have also been findings of 5HT2A and dopamine D3 receptor.''' Children with schizophrenia have an increase in genetic deletions or duplication mutations and some have a specific mutation called 22q11 deletion syndrome, which accounts for up to 2% of cases.

Highest risk among relatives
'''While it is hard to detect, there are relatives who are more-likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia if they are children of individuals who have this disorder. "First degree relatives" are found to have the highest chance of being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Children of individuals with schizophrenia have a 8.2% chance of having schizophrenia while the general population is at an 0.86% chance of having this disorder. These results indicate that genes play a big role in one developing schizophrenia.'''