Cortical Brain Abnormalities in 4474 Individuals With Schizophrenia and 5098 Control Subjects via the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics Through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium
- PMID: 29960671
- PMCID: PMC6177304
- DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.04.023
Cortical Brain Abnormalities in 4474 Individuals With Schizophrenia and 5098 Control Subjects via the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics Through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium
Abstract
Background: The profile of cortical neuroanatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia is not fully understood, despite hundreds of published structural brain imaging studies. This study presents the first meta-analysis of cortical thickness and surface area abnormalities in schizophrenia conducted by the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Schizophrenia Working Group.
Methods: The study included data from 4474 individuals with schizophrenia (mean age, 32.3 years; range, 11-78 years; 66% male) and 5098 healthy volunteers (mean age, 32.8 years; range, 10-87 years; 53% male) assessed with standardized methods at 39 centers worldwide.
Results: Compared with healthy volunteers, individuals with schizophrenia have widespread thinner cortex (left/right hemisphere: Cohen's d = -0.530/-0.516) and smaller surface area (left/right hemisphere: Cohen's d = -0.251/-0.254), with the largest effect sizes for both in frontal and temporal lobe regions. Regional group differences in cortical thickness remained significant when statistically controlling for global cortical thickness, suggesting regional specificity. In contrast, effects for cortical surface area appear global. Case-control, negative, cortical thickness effect sizes were two to three times larger in individuals receiving antipsychotic medication relative to unmedicated individuals. Negative correlations between age and bilateral temporal pole thickness were stronger in individuals with schizophrenia than in healthy volunteers. Regional cortical thickness showed significant negative correlations with normalized medication dose, symptom severity, and duration of illness and positive correlations with age at onset.
Conclusions: The findings indicate that the ENIGMA meta-analysis approach can achieve robust findings in clinical neuroscience studies; also, medication effects should be taken into account in future genetic association studies of cortical thickness in schizophrenia.
Keywords: Cortical; Imaging; Meta-analysis; Schizophrenia; Surface area; Thickness.
Copyright © 2018 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Conflict of interest statement
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Dr. Van Erp has had a research contract with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Adrian Preda has served as a consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim. The remaining authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
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Comment in
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The Power of Collaboration and Data Aggregation.Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 1;84(9):626-628. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.06.005. Biol Psychiatry. 2018. PMID: 30297020 No abstract available.
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New Meta- and Mega-analyses of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Schizophrenia: Do They Really Increase Our Knowledge About the Nature of the Disease Process?Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Apr 1;85(7):e33. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.07.029. Epub 2018 Nov 22. Biol Psychiatry. 2019. PMID: 30470560 No abstract available.
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Reply to: New Meta- and Mega-analyses of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Schizophrenia: Do They Really Increase Our Knowledge About the Nature of the Disease Process?Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Apr 1;85(7):e35-e39. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Nov 22. Biol Psychiatry. 2019. PMID: 30470561 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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