title: White Matter Abnormalities Associated With Subsyndromal Psychotic-Like Symptoms Predict Later Social Competence in Children and Adolescents.
abstract: Recent data suggest that healthy children and adolescents who report psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) evidence abnormalities in white matter (WM). To date, no study has examined whether WM abnormalities associated with PLEs are predictive of outcome at a later time-point. The present study examined whether abnormalities in WM associated with PLEs in children and adolescents at a baseline assessment were predictive of social functioning at a 12-month follow-up.
  
  
  
  Healthy children and adolescents aged 8-18 years (N = 56) were recruited from the community and received a diffusion tensor imaging exam and a clinical exam at baseline. Voxel-wise statistical analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA), using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics, and probabilistic tractography were used to identify WM abnormalities associated with PLEs at baseline. These abnormalities were then examined for association to social problems and social competence in 28 participants at 12-month follow-up.
  
  
  
  Lower FA in regions proximal to the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and corticospinal tract bilaterally as well as in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and inferior longitudinal fasciculus were associated with higher levels of PLEs at baseline. Moreover, baseline FA in the SLF, but not baseline severity of PLEs, was significantly predictive of social competence at a 12-month follow-up. In contrast, baseline severity of PLEs, but not baseline FA in the SLF, predicted social problems at 12-month follow-up.
  
  
  
  These findings suggest that alterations in WM, which are associated with symptoms of psychosis well below the threshold of clinical significance, may have significant ramifications for later social development.
authors.affiliation: Center for Translational Psychiatry, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY; pderosse@lij.edu.|Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: DeRosse
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Applied Sciences, University of Mississippi, University, MS.
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikuta
authors.affiliation: Center for Translational Psychiatry, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY.|Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY.|Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY.
authors.forename: Katherine H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Karlsgodt
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY.
authors.forename: Bart D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Chaya B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Gopin
authors.affiliation: Center for Translational Psychiatry, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY.|Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY.|Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY.
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Szeszko
authors.affiliation: Center for Translational Psychiatry, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY.|Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY.|Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY.|Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY.
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Malhotra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066107:Social Skills; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: children and adolescents; diffusion tensor imaging; psychotic-like experiences; social functioning; superior longitudinal fasciculus