title: Hippocampal volume asymmetry and age at illness onset in males with schizophrenia.
abstract: To determine whether there are disturbances of hippocampal volume asymmetry in schizophrenic patients, we obtained contiguous, 1-mm-thick magnetic resonance images in 28 males with chronic schizophrenia and in 28 age-matched healthy males. The schizophrenic patients showed a bilateral reduction in volume of the hippocampal formation (HF; left 7.0%; right 8.7%). This reduction was significantly associated with the severity of disorganization syndrome (P < 0.0005). A significant asymmetry in the HF volume was found in the control subjects (P = 0.006), but not in the patients (P = 0.40). There was a significant positive correlation between the asymmetry index and the patient's age at the onset of schizophrenia (r = 0.46, P = 0.01). Results indicate that a disturbance in the normal asymmetry of the HF may be a characteristic in schizophrenia, particularly in patients with an early onset of the illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuzako
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yonezawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuzako
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takenouchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kajiya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takigawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*