title: Prodromal Symptom Severity Predicts Accelerated Gray Matter Reduction and Third Ventricle Expansion Among Clinically High Risk Youth Developing Psychotic Disorders.
abstract: A recent prospective longitudinal neuroimaging study of 274 prodromal risk syndrome subjects revealed that those who later developed full-blown psychotic symptoms exhibited accelerated gray matter loss and third ventricle expansion around the time of onset of psychosis. Previous studies also indicate that higher levels of unusual thought content during prodromal states are a significant predictor of psychosis in clinically high-risk youth (CHR). However, the relationship between clinical symptoms and changes in neuroanatomical structure has not been previously examined in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) sample at the atlas level. In this report, we investigated whether symptom severity as measured by the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) predicted the accelerated gray matter decline in 274 CHR cases, including 35 who converted to psychosis. Higher levels of unusual thought content (pre-delusional) symptoms at baseline were associated with a steeper rate of gray matter loss in the prefrontal cortex bilaterally among converters. In contrast, there was no association found among non-converters. Steeper gray matter loss seems to be unique to those (CHR) individuals with higher levels of sub-psychotic pre-delusional symptoms that acutely worsen in the ramp-up to full-blown psychosis, and as such may reflect pathophysiological processes driving emergence of psychosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University.
authors.forename: Yoonho
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University.
authors.forename: Aron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, UC Irvine.
authors.forename: Theo G M
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: van Erp
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Department of Psychology, UCLA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McEwen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Addington
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Department of Psychology, UCLA.
authors.forename: Carrie E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Bearden
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UCSD.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cadenhead
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cornblatt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UCSF.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Mathalon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McGlashan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ; Renaissance Computing Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School ; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UCSD.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University.
authors.forename: Scott W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.affiliation: Division of Treatment and Prevention Research, National Institute of Mental Health.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heinssen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University ; Division of Treatment and Prevention Research, National Institute of Mental Health.
authors.forename: Tyrone D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Cannon
keywords: CHR; MRI; SOPS; Schizophrenia; prodromal; psychosis