A longitudinal study of lateral ventricle volumes in deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia

Although it is generally accepted that negative symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with larger lateral ventricles, this general assumption could not be validated in patients with primary negative symptoms. To elucidate this issue, we conducted a five-year longitudinal study, including deficit (n = 13) and non-deficit (n = 26) schizophrenia patients with healthy controls (n = 18). Analysis with linear mixed effects modeling showed that both the left and the right lateral ventricles of the deficit patients enlarged more than the non-deficit patients. Our results suggest that structural alterations in deficit patients might follow a different trajectory than those in non-deficit patients.