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Many environmental factors affecting intrauterine brain development have been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. In a prospective study of prenatal nicotine exposure, investigators analyzed data from all live births in Finland from 1983 through 1998 in which maternal cotinine levels were available from early to mid-gestation. In all, 977 diagnoses of schizophrenia through 2009 were identified (mean age, 22.3), and each case was matched with a control. Potential confounders included maternal and paternal histories of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, several sociodemographic factors, weight for gestational age, and maternal levels of C-reactive protein.
Maternal smoking was self-reported by 21.0% of case mothers and…