title: Consistent Functional Connectivity Alterations in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: A Multisite Study.
abstract: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe mental illness with high heritability and complex etiology. Mounting evidence from neuroimaging has implicated disrupted brain network connectivity in the pathophysiology. However, previous findings are inconsistent, likely due to a combination of methodological and clinical variability and relatively small sample sizes. Few studies have used a data-driven approach for characterizing pathological interactions between regions in the whole brain and evaluated the generalizability across independent samples. To overcome this issue, we collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 3 independent samples (1 from Norway and 2 from Sweden) consisting of 182 persons with a SZ spectrum diagnosis and 348 healthy controls. We used a whole-brain data-driven definition of network nodes and regularized partial correlations to evaluate and compare putatively direct brain network node interactions between groups. The clinical utility of the functional connectivity features and the generalizability of effects across samples were evaluated by training and testing multivariate classifiers in the independent samples using machine learning. Univariate analyses revealed 14 network edges with consistent reductions in functional connectivity encompassing frontal, somatomotor, visual, auditory, and subcortical brain nodes in patients with SZ. We found a high overall accuracy in classifying patients and controls (up to 80%) using independent training and test samples, strongly supporting the generalizability of connectivity alterations across different scanners and heterogeneous samples. Overall, our findings demonstrate robust reductions in functional connectivity in SZ spectrum disorders, indicating disrupted information flow in sensory, subcortical, and frontal brain regions.
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Kristina C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Skåtun
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Nhat Trung
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Dag
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alnæs
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Córdova-Palomera
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Erik G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fatouros-Bergman
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flyckt
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Melle
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ole A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Andreassen
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Agartz
authors.affiliation: NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Westlye
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000069550:Machine Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: brain networks; independent component analysis; machine learning; psychosis; resting-state fMRI