Abstract
The objective of this presentation is to evaluate child and adolescent offspring of patients with schizophrenia (SzO) or bipolar disorder (BpO) using clinical, cognitive, and structural MRI measures, in order to help understand changes taking place in the brain in individuals at heightened risk for disease during a key developmental period. A total of 128 individuals (33 SzO and 46 BpO, considered jointly as Familial High Risk [FHR], and 49 controls; aged 6-17 years) underwent clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging assessment at baseline, 2-year follow-up, and 4-year follow-up. Twenty FHR participants (11 SzO and 9 BpO) developed psychotic spectrum symptoms during follow-up, while 59 FHR participants did not. MRI was performed using a 3Tesla scanner; cortical surface reconstruction was applied to measure cortical thickness, surface area, and grey matter volume. FHR participants who developed psychotic spectrum symptoms over time showed greater time-related mean cortical thinning than those who did not and than controls. By subgroups, this effect was present in both BpO and SzO in the occipital cortex. At baseline, FHR participants who developed psychotic spectrum symptoms over time had smaller total surface area and grey matter volume than those who did not and than controls. Over time, all FHR participants showed less longitudinal decrease in surface area than controls. In those who developed psychotic spectrum symptoms over time, this effect was driven by BpO, while in those who did not, this was due to SzO, who also showed less grey matter volume reduction. The emergence of psychotic spectrum symptoms in FHR was indexed by smaller cross-sectional surface area and progressive cortical thinning. Relative preservation of the surface area over time may signal different processes according to familial risk. These findings lay the foundation for future studies aimed at stratification of FHR youth.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
