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No progression of the alterations in the cortical thickness of individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: a three-year longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study of first-episode patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2015

R. Roiz-Santiáñez ,
V. Ortiz-García de la Foz ,
R. Ayesa-Arriola ,
D. Tordesillas-Gutiérrez ,
R. Jorge ,
N. Varela-Gómez ,
P. Suárez-Pinilla ,
A. Córdova-Palomera ,
J. M. Navasa-Melado  and
B. Crespo-Facorro
R. Roiz-Santiáñez*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
V. Ortiz-García de la Foz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
R. Ayesa-Arriola
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
D. Tordesillas-Gutiérrez
Affiliation:
Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain Neuroimaging Unit/Technological Facilities–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
R. Jorge
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
N. Varela-Gómez
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
P. Suárez-Pinilla
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
A. Córdova-Palomera
Affiliation:
Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain Departament de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
J. M. Navasa-Melado
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
B. Crespo-Facorro
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria–IDIVAL, Santander, Spain Cibersam (Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental), Madrid, Spain
*
*Address for correspondence: R. Roiz-Santiáñez, Ph.D., Unidad Investigación Psiquiatría, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Avda. Valdecilla s/n, 39008, Santander, Spain. (Email: rroiz@humv.es)
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Abstract

Background

Cortical thickness measurement offers an index of brain development processes. In healthy individuals, cortical thickness is reduced with increasing age and is related to cognitive decline. Cortical thinning has been reported in schizophrenia. Whether cortical thickness changes differently over time in patients and its impact on outcome remain unanswered.

Method

Data were examined from 109 patients and 76 healthy controls drawn from the Santander Longitudinal Study of first-episode schizophrenia for whom adequate structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were available (n = 555 scans). Clinical and cognitive assessments and MRIs were acquired at three regular time points during a 3-year follow-up period. We investigated likely progressive cortical thickness changes in schizophrenia during the first 3 years after initiating antipsychotic treatment. The effects of cortical thickness changes on cognitive and clinical variables were also examined along with the impact of potential confounding factors.

Results

There were significant diagnoses × scan time interaction main effects for total cortical thickness (F1,309.1 = 4.60, p = 0.033) and frontal cortical thickness (F1,310.6 = 5.30, p = 0.022), reflecting a lesser thinning over time in patients. Clinical and cognitive outcome was not associated with progressive cortical changes during the early years of the illness.

Conclusions

Cortical thickness abnormalities do not unswervingly progress, at least throughout the first years of the illness. Previous studies have suggested that modifiable factors may partly account for cortical thickness abnormalities. Therefore, the importance of implementing practical actions that may modify those factors and improve them over the course of the illness should be highlighted.

Keywords

Clinical assessmentcortical thicknessfirst-episode psychosislongitudinal studiesschizophreniastructural magnetic resonance imaging
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 45 , Issue 13 , October 2015 , pp. 2861 - 2871
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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