Prodromal Symptom Severity Predicts Accelerated Gray Matter Reduction and Third Ventricle Expansion among Clinically High-Risk Youth Developing Psychotic Disorders

In this report, we investigated whether symptom severity as measured by the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) predicted the accelerated gray matter decline in 274 CHR cases, including 35 who converted to psychosis. Higher levels of unusual thought content at baseline were associated with a steeper rate of gray matter loss in the prefrontal cortex bilaterally among converters. In contrast, there was no association found among nonconverters. Steeper gray matter loss seems to be unique to those (CHR) individuals with higher levels of subpsychotic predelusional symptoms that acutely worsen in the ramp-up to full-blown psychosis, and as such may reflect pathophysiological processes driving the emergence of psychosis.Mol Neuropsychiatry 2015;1:13-22

Source: Molecular Neuropsychiatry - February 13, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research