title: Severity of schizophrenia and magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities: a comparison of state and veterans hospital patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The relationship between illness severity and neuroanatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to test whether the pattern and extent of brain volume abnormalities differed between two patient groups, distinguished by their overall severity and clinical course of schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 56 severely ill, chronically hospitalized schizophrenic men from Napa State Hospital (SH-SZ), 44 moderately ill, acutely hospitalized schizophrenic men from the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Health Care System (VA-SZ), and 52 healthy male control subjects. Temporolimbic, ventricular, and frontoparietal volumes, quantified from 3-mm coronal spin-echo magnetic resonance images and adjusted for cerebral volume and age, were compared using analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to control subjects, both SZ groups had smaller (p < .05) temporal lobe and frontoparietal gray matter volumes and larger ventricles and temporal sulci. Whereas SH-SZ had more pronounced cerebrospinal fluid and frontoparietal abnormalities relative to VA-SZ; VA-SZ had greater temporal lobe gray matter deficits. Neither patients group had hippocampal or cerebral volume deficits relative to control subjects. There were no differences between diagnostic subtypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The magnitude of volume abnormalities in schizophrenia varies with respect to disease severity and to brain region, but disease severity is not associated with anatomically distinct subgroups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, California, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beal
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Minn
authors.forename: W O
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Faustman
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Csernansky
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pfefferbaum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index