title: Insular cortex thinning in first episode schizophrenia patients.
abstract: Overall and regional cortical thinning has been observed at the first break of schizophrenia. Due to the fact that structural abnormalities in the insular cortex have been described in schizophrenia, we investigated insular thickness anomalies in first episode schizophrenia. Participants comprised 118 schizophrenia patients and 83 healthy subjects. Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans (1.5T) were obtained, and images were analyzed by using BRAINS2. The contribution of sociodemographic, cognitive and clinical characterictics was controlled. Schizophrenia patients demonstrated a significant right insular thinning, and a significant group by gender interaction was found for left insular thickness. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that male schizophrenia patients had a significant left insular thinning compared with healthy male subjects. There were no significant associations between insular thickness, the severity of symptoms at baseline and cognitive measurements and premorbid variables. The fact that insular thinning is already present at early phases of the illness and is independent of intervening variables offers evidence for the potential of these changes to be a biological marker of the illness.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, IFIMAV, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roiz-Santiáñez
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Iglesias
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quintero
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tordesillas-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mata
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ayesa
authors.forename: José Manuel Rodríguez
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Barquero
authors.forename: Benedicto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crespo-Facorro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult