Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:48:52.457Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural abnormalities of the brain in schizophrenia: sex differences in the Cantabria First Episode of Schizophrenia Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. L. Vázquez-Barquero ,
M. J. Cuesta Núñez ,
F. Quintana Pando ,
M. De La Varga ,
S. Herrera Castanedo  and
G. Dunn
J. L. Vázquez-Barquero*
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
M. J. Cuesta Núñez
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
F. Quintana Pando
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
M. De La Varga
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
S. Herrera Castanedo
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
G. Dunn
Affiliation:
Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria and the Neuro-Radiology Service, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Cantabria University, Santander, Spain; Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor J. L. Vázquez-Barquero, Social Psychiatry Research Unit of Cantabria, University Hospital ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Avda, Valdecilla s/n, 39008—Santander, Spain.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

This paper examines structural brain abnormalities, as evaluated by the CT scan, in first episodes of schizophrenia and their association with sociodemographic, diagnostic and clinical variables. The investigation included all patients with a first episode of schizophrenia who, over a 2-year period, made contact with any of the public mental health services of the Autonomous Region of Cantabria in Northern Spain. Diagnostic and clinical characteristics were evaluated through the use of the Spanish version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) and the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SANS and SAPS respectively). The study demonstrated the presence of structural brain abnormalities in this sample of first episode schizophrenics. These abnormalities were mainly expressed in the presence of larger VBR for schizophrenic patients than in the controls, these findings being more marked in women than in men. We failed to reveal, however, any evidence of an association of these brain abnormalities with diagnostic or clinical characteristics.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 6 , November 1995 , pp. 1247 - 1257
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andreasen, N. C. (1983). The Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). University of Iowa: Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1984). The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). University of Iowa: Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. & Olsen, S. (1982). Negative versus positive schizophrenia: definition and validation. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 789–794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreasen, N. C., Smith, M. R., Jacoby, C. G., Dennert, J. W. & Olsen, S. A. (1982). Ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia: definition and prevalence. American Journal of Psychiatry 139, 292–296.Google ScholarPubMed
Andreasen, N. C., Swayze, V. W., Flaum, M., Yates, W. R., Arndt, S. & McChesney, C. (1990). Ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia evaluated with computed tomographic scanning. Archives of General Psychiatry 47, 1008–1015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, T. D. & Marco, E., (1994). Structural brain abnormalities as indicators of vulnerability to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 20, 89–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farmer, A., Jackson, R., McGuffin, P. & Storey, P. (1987). Cerebral ventricular enlargement in chronic schizophrenia: consistencies and contradictions. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 324–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flaum, M., Arndt, S. & Andreasen, N. C. (1990). The role of gender in studies of ventricle enlargement in schizophrenia: a predominantly male effect. American Journal of Psychiatry 147, 1327–1332.Google ScholarPubMed
Gittelman-Klein, R. & Klein, D. F. (1969). Premorbid asocial adjustment and prognosis in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research 7, 35–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, M. J. (1988). Further data concerning the relation between premorbid adjustment and paranoid symptomatology. Schizo phrenia Bulletin 4, 236–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iacono, W. G. & Beiser, M. (1992). Are males more likely than females to develop schizophrenia? American Journal of Psychiatry 149, 1070–1074.Google ScholarPubMed
Iacono, W. G., Smith, G. N., Moreau, M., Beiser, M., Fleming, A. E., Lin, T. & Falk, B. (1988). Ventricular and sulcal size at the onset of psychosis. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 820–824.Google ScholarPubMed
Jablensky, A., Sartorius, N., Ernberg, G., Anker, M., Korten, A., Cooper, J. E., Day, R. & Bertel, A. (1992). Schizophrenia: Manifestations, Incidence and Course in Different Cultures. A World Health Organization Ten-Country Study. Psychological Medicine Monograph Supplement 20. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Frith, C. D., Crow, T. J., Ausband, J. & Kreel, L. (1976). Cerebral ventricular size and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia. Lancet 2, 924–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaiya, H., Uematsu, M., Ofuji, M., Nishida, A., Morikiyo, M. & Adachi, S. (1989). Computerised tomography in schizophrenia. Familial versus non-familial forms of illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 155, 444–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klausner, J. D., Sweeney, J. A., Deck, M. D. F., Haas, G. L. & Kelly, A. B. (1992). Clinical correlates of cerebral ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia. Further evidence for lobe disease. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180, 407–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewine, R. R. J., Gulley, L. R., Risch, S. C., Jewart, R. & Houpt, J. L. (1990). Sexual dimorphism, brain morphology, and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 16, 195–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, R. C. & Luchins, D. J. (1990). Relationship between brain imaging findings in schizophrenia and psychopathology. A review of the literature relating to positive and negative symptoms. In Schizophrenia: Positive and Negative Symptoms and Syndromes (ed. Andreasen, N. C.), pp. 89–123. Kargen: New York.Google Scholar
Murray, R., Lewis, S. & Revely, A. (1985). Towards an aetiological classification of schizophrenia. Lancet iv, 1023–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nasrallah, H. A., Jacoby, C. G., McCalley-Whitters, M. & Kuperman, S. (1982). Cerebral ventricular enlargement in subtpes of chronic schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 774–777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nasrallah, H. A., Schwarzkopf, S. B., Olson, S. C. & Coffman, J. A. (1990). Gender differences in schizophrenia on MRI brain scans. Schizophrenia Bulletin 16, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Obiols, J. E., Salvador, L., Humbert, M. & Obiols, J. (1985). Evaluación de los síntomas negativos de la esquizofrenia. Revista del Departamento de Psiquiatría de la Facultad de Medicina de Barcelona 12, 85–91.Google Scholar
Obiols, J. E., Ruscalleda, J. & Masferrer, M. (1986). Ventricular enlargement in young chronic schizophrenics. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 73, 42–44.Google Scholar
Owens, D. D. C., Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Jagoe, J. R. & Kreel, L. (1985). Lateral ventricular size in schizophrenia: relationship to the disease process and its clinical manifestations. Psychological Medicine 15, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandurangi, A. K., Bilder, R. M., Rieder, R. O., Muherjee, S. & Hamer, R. H. (1988). Schizophrenia symptoms and deterioration. Relation to computed tomograpic findings. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 176, 200–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prefferbaum, A., Zipursky, R. B., Lim, K. O., Zatz, L. M., Stahl, S. M. & Jennigan, T. L. (1988). Computed tomographic evidence for generalized sulcal and ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 45, 633–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reveley, A. M., Reveley, M. A. & Murray, R. M. (1983). Enlargement of cerebral ventricles in schizophrenics confined to those without known genetic predisposition. Lancet ii, 525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ring, N., Tantam, D., Montague, L., Newby, D., Black, D. & Morris, J. (1991). Gender differences in the incidence of definite schizophrenia and atypical psychosis—focus on negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 84, 489–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romani, A., Merello, S., Gozzoli, L., Zerbi, F., Grassi, M. & Cosi, V. (1987). P300 and CT scan in patients with chronic schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 151, 506–513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salvador, L., Obiols, J. E., Humbert, M. & Obiols, J. (1985). Evaluación de los síntomas positivos en la esquizofrenia. Revista del Departamento de Psiquiatría de la Facultad de Medicina de Barcelona 12, 92–102.Google Scholar
Schulz, S. C., Koller, M. M., Kishore, P. R., Hamer, R. M., Gehl, J. J. & Friedel, R. O. (1983). Ventricular enlargement in teenage patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 140, 1592–1595.Google ScholarPubMed
Schwarz, R., Biehl, H., Krumm, B. & Schubart, C. (1980). Case-finding and characteristic of schizophrenic patients of recent onset in Mannheim. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 62, Suppl. 282, 212–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scottish Schizophrenia Research Group (1989). The Scottish first episode schizophrenia study. VI. Computerised tomography brain scans in patients and controls. British Journal of Psychiatry 154, 492–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelton, R. C., Karson, C. N., Doran, A. R., Pickar, D., Bigelow, L. B. & Weinberger, D. R. (1988). Cerebral structural pathology in schizophrenia: evidence for a selective prefrontal cortical defect. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 154–163.Google ScholarPubMed
Shepherd, M., Watt, D., Falloon, I. & Steeton, N. (1989). The Natural History of Schizophrenia: A Five-year Follow-up Study of Outcome and Prediction in a Representative Sample of Schizophrenics. Psychological Medicine, Monograph Supplement 15. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smith, G. N., Iacono, W. G., Moreau, M., Tallman, K., Beiser, M. & Flak, B. (1988). Choice of comparison group and finding of computerized tomography in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 667–674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SPSS Inc. (1993). SPSS for Windows. Release 6.0. SPSS Inc.: Chicago.Google Scholar
Synek, V., Reuben, J. R. & Boulay, G. H. (1976). Comparing Evans' index and computerized axial tomography in asessing relationship of ventricular size to brain size. Neurology 26, 231–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahasi, R., Inaba, Y. & Inanaga, K. (1981). CT scanning and the investigation of schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 9, 259–268.Google Scholar
Turner, S. W., Toone, B. K. & Brett-Jones, J. R. (1986). Computerized tomographic scan changes in early schizophrenia: preliminary findings. Psychological Medicine 16, 219–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Horn, J. D. & McManus, I. C. (1992). Ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia. A meta-analysis of studies of the ventricle: brain ratio (VBR). British Journal of Psychiatry 160, 687–697.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vázquez-Barquero, J. L., Díez Manrique, J. F., Peña, C., Aldama, J., Samaniego Rodriguez, C., Arango, J. & Mirapeix, C. (1987). A community mental health survey in Cantabria: a general description of morbidity. Psychological Medicine 17, 227–241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vázquez-Barquero, J. L., Cuesta Nuñez, M. J., de la Varga, M., Herrera Castanedo, S., Gaite, L. & Arenal, A. (1995 a). The Cantabria first episode schizophrenia study: a summary of general findings. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 91, 156–1620.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vázquez-Barquero, J. L., Lastra, I., Cuesta Nuñez, M. J., Herrera Castanedo, S., Gaite, L. & Pardo, G. (1995 b). Análisis psicopatológico de las fases iniciales de la esquizofrenia: estudio de primeros episodios de esquizofrenia de Cantabria. Psiquiatría Biológica (in the press).Google Scholar
Vázquez-Barquero, J. L., de la Varga, M., Cuesta Núñez, M. J., Herrera Castanedo, S., Díez Manrique, J. F., Pardo, G. & Dunn, G. (1995 c). The influence of age and other sociodemographic and clinical variables on the diagnostic characteristics of first episodes of schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine (submitted).Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Torrey, E. F., Neophytides, A. N. & Wyatt, R. J. (1979). Lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement in chronic schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 36, 735–739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. R., Cannon-Spoor, E., Potkin, S. G. & Wyatt, R. J. (1980). Poor promorbid adjustment and CT scan abnormalities in chronic schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 137, 1410–1413.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., DeLisi, L. E., Perman, G. P., Targum, S. & Wyatt, R. J. (1982). Computer tomography in schizophreniform disorder and other acute psychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 778–783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974). Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar