Abstract
Memory performance is severely impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. Although several studies have reported a relationship between memory performance and hippocampal volume, only a few structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have investigated the relationship between memory performance and subcortical structures other than hippocampus in patients with schizophrenia. We investigated the relationship between memory performance and subcortical regional volumes in a large sample of patients with schizophrenia. Participants included 174 patients with schizophrenia and 638 healthy comparison subjects (HCS). The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) has three memory indices (verbal immediate recall, visual immediate recall, and delayed recall (verbal plus visual)) and one control neurocognitive index (attention/concentration). We obtained T1-weighted MRI data and measured the bilateral volumes of the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, nucleus accumbens (NA), caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower scores for all of the indices of the WMS-R than the HCS. They had more severe impairments in verbal immediate recall and delayed recall than in visual immediate recall and attention/concentration. Verbal immediate recall/delayed recall scores in patients with schizophrenia were significantly correlated not only with hippocampal volume (left: r = 0.34; right: r = 0.28/left: r = 0.33; right: r = 0.31), but also with NA volume (left: r = 0.24; right: r = 0.25/left: r = 0.26; right: r = 0.27). The present investigation with a large sample size did not only replicate hippocampal volume and memory association, but also found that NA volume is associated with memory performances in schizophrenia.
Highlights
Cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia, which seriously affects every day social functioning
All four indices of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) were significantly lower in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy comparison subjects (HCS) with t-tests (Verbal Memory Index, d = −1.60, p = 2.0 × 10−79; Visual Memory Index, d = −1.33, p = 4.8 × 10−67; Delayed Recall Index, d = −1.81, p = 1.4 × 10−101; Attention/Concentration Index, d = −1.24, p = 8.5 × 10−47; Table 2, Fig. 1)
We observed that three memory indices and one general cognitive index of the WMS-R were significantly lower in patients with schizophrenia compared with HCS
Summary
Cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia, which seriously affects every day social functioning. Memory is markedly impaired in patients with schizophrenia when compared to healthy comparison subjects (HCS)[1,2,3]. Verbal memory has been identified as a predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenia[4,5]. Correlational analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumes and performance indices has been shown to be a reliable strategy for investigating the bases of cognitive and behavioral deficits in schizophrenia[10]. Previous studies have found a robust association between. Koshiyama et al Translational Psychiatry (2018)8:20 SZ (N = 174) HCS (N = 638) Statistics Mean SD.
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