P.1.c.012 Decreased hippocampal volumes with age and duration: hippocampal volumes and NGF, BDNF serum levels in adolescents with bipolar disorder

Abstract

clinical diagnosis of the study participants. In a formal de-blinding session the SD-BERA diagnoses were compared with the clinical DSM-IV diagnoses (SCID-I). The sensitivity of the method for schizophrenia vs. no-diagnosis controls was 82.7%, for ADHD vs. no-diagnosis controls 87.5%, and the specificity vs. no-diagnosis controls was 92.7 and 93.1%, respectively. The SD-BERA test indicated ADHD in 1/29 patients with clinical schizophrenia, and schizophrenia in 1/24 patients with clinical ADHD. The present study suggests that the SD-BERA method might provide useful biomarkers to support the clinical diagnoses of schizophrenia and adult ADHD. The findings also indicate variability in the neuronal organization of the brain stem with characteristics that differentiates the two neuropsychiatric disorders from each other and from no-diagnosis controls. Further studies of the SD-BERA method are in progress.