title: Neuroanatomical Differences between First-Episode Psychosis Patients with and without Neurocognitive Deficit: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The course of cognitive function in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients suggests that some individuals are normal or near normal whereas some cases present a marked decline. The goal of the present longitudinal study was to identify neuroanatomical differences between deficit and non-deficit patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty nine FEP patients with neuroimage and neurocognitive information were studied at baseline and 3 year after illness onset. A global cognitive function score was used to classify deficit and non-deficit patients at baseline. Analysis of covariances and repeated-measures analysis were performed to evaluate differences in brain volumes. Age, premorbid IQ, and intracranial volume were used as covariates. We examined only volumes of whole brain, whole brain gray and white matter, cortical CSF and lateral ventricles, lobular volumes of gray and white matter, and subcortical (caudate nucleus and thalamus) regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At illness onset 50.8% of patients presented global cognitive deficit. There were no significant differences between neuropsychological subgroups in any of the brain regions studied at baseline [all F(1, 54) ≤ 3.42; all p ≥ 0.07] and follow-up [all F(1, 54) ≤ 3.43; all p ≥ 0.07] time points. There was a significant time by group interaction for the parietal tissue volume [F(1, 54) = 4.97, p = 0.030] and the total gray matter volume [F(1, 54) = 4.31, p = 0.042], with the deficit group showing a greater volume decrease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results did not confirm the presence of significant morphometric differences in the brain regions evaluated between cognitively impaired and cognitively preserved schizophrenia patients at the early stages of the illness. However, there were significant time by group interactions for the parietal tissue volume and the total gray matter volume during the 3-year follow-up period, which might indicate that cognitive deficit in schizophrenia would be associated with progressive brain volume loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, IFIMAV , Santander , Spain ; CIBERSAM, Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental , Madrid , Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ayesa-Arriola
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roiz-Santiáñez
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Iglesias
authors.forename: Adele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sainz
authors.forename: Benedicto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crespo-Facorro
keywords: cognitive deficit; first-episode psychosis; neuroanatomical; neurocognition; schizophrenia