Lateral ventricular enlargement associated with persistent unemployment and negative symptoms in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Forty-six patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and 46 individually matched normal volunteers underwent computed tomographic (CT) scans of the head. The ventricular-to-brain ratio was strongly associated with persistent unemployment and negative symptoms in both patient groups. Previous findings of relative lateral ventricular enlargement in a proportion of schizophrenic and bipolar patients were also replicated. Implications of the relationship between CT changes and chronic unemployment among the patients are discussed.