Aberrant Executive Control and Auditory Networks in Recent-Onset Schizophrenia

Despite a large number of resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) studies in schizophrenia, current evidence on the abnormalities of functional connectivity (FC) of resting-state networks shows high variability, and the findings on recent-onset schizophrenia are insufficient compared to those on chronic schizophrenia.

We performed a rsfMRI in 46 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls. Group independent component brainmap and dual regression were performed for voxel-wise comparisons between the groups. Correlation of the symptom severity, cognitive function, duration of illness, and a total antipsychotics dose with FC was evaluated with Spearman's rho correlation.

The patient group had areas with a significantly decreased FC compared to that of the control group in which it existed in the left supplementary motor cortex and supramarginal gyrus (the executive control network) and the right postcentral gyrus (the auditory network). The patient group had a significant correlation of the total antipsychotics dose with the FC of the cluster in the left supplementary motor cortex in the executive control network.

Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have decreased FC of the executive control and auditory networks compared to healthy controls.