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Elucidating the relationship between white matter structure, demographic, and clinical variables in schizophrenia-a
Johanna Seitz-Holland1, Suheyla Cetin-Karayumak2, Joanne D Wojcik3
1Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. jseitz@bwh.harvard.edu.
Molecular Psychiatry
|January 23, 2021
Summary
Schizophrenia patients show white matter abnormalities linked to illness duration and medication. These abnormalities correlate with symptom severity, with sex influencing these complex relationships.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatry
- Neuroscience
Background:
- White matter (WM) abnormalities are consistently observed in schizophrenia (SCZ).
- Limited understanding exists regarding how demographic and clinical factors interact with WM pathologies in SCZ.
- Heterogeneous findings and age confounds hinder progress in SCZ research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of clinical variables on WM abnormalities in schizophrenia patients.
- To determine if WM abnormalities predict symptom severity in SCZ.
- To examine the sex-specific effects on the relationships between clinical variables, WM abnormalities, and symptom severity in SCZ.
Main Methods:
- Utilized harmonized diffusion MRI data from 13 international sites (597 SCZ patients).
- Predicted Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values using models from a healthy population (n=492).
- Employed regression, mediator, and structural equation modeling to analyze deviations between predicted and actual FA values.
Main Results:
- Longer illness duration correlated with more severe WM abnormalities in multiple tracts.
- Higher antipsychotic medication doses were linked to corpus callosum abnormalities.
- Increased WM abnormalities were associated with higher symptom severity, with sex-specific patterns observed.
Conclusions:
- Demographic, clinical, and behavioral variables interact with WM pathology in SCZ.
- Sex influences the relationships between illness duration, WM abnormalities, and symptom severity.
- Highlights the need for longitudinal studies to explore causality, sex-specificity, and cognitive resilience in SCZ.
