The relationship of structural alterations to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia: a voxel-based morphometry study.
BACKGROUND
Region of interest studies have identified a number of structure-cognition associations in schizophrenia and revealed alterations in structure-cognition relationship in this population.


METHODS
We examined the relationship of structural brain alterations, identified using voxel-based morphometry, to cognitive deficits in 45 schizophrenia patients relative to 43 healthy control subjects and tested the hypothesis that structure-cognition relationship is altered in schizophrenia.


RESULTS
Patients had smaller total brain, gray matter, and white matter volumes. Regional alterations were left-hemisphere specific, including: gray matter reduction of inferior frontal, lingual, and anterior superior temporal gyri; white matter reduction of posterior and occipital lobes; and gray matter increase of the putamen and the precuneus. Smaller whole brain and gray matter volumes were associated with lower premorbid intelligence quotient (IQ) and poorer performance on IQ-dependent cognitive measures in patients and to a similar extent in control subjects. Larger precuneus was associated with better immediate verbal memory in patients, whereas verbal and nonverbal memory were positively associated with inferior frontal gyrus volume in control subjects. Smaller occipital white matter volume was associated with slower information processing speed in patients but not in control subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
Regional volume alterations are associated with specific cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Some structure-cognition relationships differentiate this population from healthy control subjects.
Antonova
Elena
E
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. e.antonova@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Kumari
Veena
V
Morris
Robin
R
Halari
Rozmin
R
Anilkumar
A
A
Mehrotra
Ravi
R
Sharma
Tonmoy
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013223:Statistics as Topic