Neurodevelopment Within the First Three Years of Life Does Not Predict Psychotic Experiences at Age 10: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Early childhood developmental delays and lower cognitive and motor function have been found to be related to psychotic experiences (PE) in middle childhood. These findings suggest a neurodevelopmental pathway to PE in childhood. This study examined if prospectively assessed neurodevelopment in infancy from birth to age 3 predicted PE at age 10.

Methods: We included data from the population-based prospective longitudinal cohort COPSAC (n = 700). Parents reported on children milestones starting at 1 week old, language acquisition at 1 and 2 years of age, and children were evaluated on cognition at 2.5 years and general development at 3 years. At age 10, children were clinically assessed regarding PE. We used adjusted logistic regression models to assess the association between developmental within the first years of life and later PE.

Results: We evaluated 593 children at 10 years regarding PE, of which 77 (13 %) reported having experienced PE. We did not find significant associations between early life neurodevelopment and childhood PE. Analyses excluding children with neurodevelopmental diagnosis (i.e, ADHD, autism and tics) yielded similar results.

Conclusions: Delays in developmental milestones, language acquisition, and cognition during the first 3 years of life were not associated with PE in middle childhood. The findings do not support that childhood PE occurs associated with atypical early neurodevelopment. Given that we report results on one time point PE, clarification of associations with persistent PE are warranted.