Increased Brain-Age Gap in Young Adults With Psychotic Experiences

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Radiology

Background:

• Psychotic experiences (PEs), including hallucinations and delusions, are associated with brain structure variations.
• The relationship between PEs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived brain age remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if young adults with PEs exhibit an increased brain-age gap (predicted minus chronological age).
• To determine if this brain-age gap diverges over a 10-year period.

Main Methods:

• Brain age was estimated using a multilayer perceptron model trained on 2628 T1-weighted MRIs (ages 6-50).
• Participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were scanned around ages 20 and 30.
• Linear mixed-effects models analyzed case-control differences, severity associations, and longitudinal changes in the brain-age gap.

Main Results:

• Individuals with PEs had a significantly larger brain-age gap at the initial scan (around age 20).
• A trend-level association was observed between the brain-age gap and PE severity.
• The difference in brain-age gap between groups was not significant at the follow-up scan (around age 30).

Conclusions:

• Young adults reporting PEs demonstrate an older brain age, indicative of atypical brain maturation.
• The brain-age gap did not show significant widening or narrowing by age 30.
• Longitudinal studies with larger, multimodal cohorts across development are necessary to fully understand psychosis-related atypical brain maturation.