Editorial: New Clues Into Cortical Changes That Converge on Psychosis

Abstract

Adults living with schizophrenia have prominent and widespread alterations in brain structure and function, but until recently little was known about the developmental timing and course of such changes. Prospective studies of individuals at elevated risk for developing psychosis, termed clinical high-risk (CHR) or psychosis risk syndrome patients, can address these questions, thus providing clues into neurobiological mechanisms that occur prior to illness onset. In this issue, Fortea et al.¹ present the results of a prospective longitudinal brain imaging investigation of 107 adolescents at CHR for developing a psychotic disorder (23% of whom developed psychosis over the follow-up period) and 102 typically developing controls. Participants were scanned at baseline and at 18-month follow-up or at the time of conversion to psychosis. Using linear mixed-effects models to measure cortical surface area over time, the authors found that youth who developed a psychotic disorder during the follow-up period experienced greater loss of cortical surface area in bilateral parietal and right frontal regions compared to CHR youth who did not develop psychosis, and in left parietal and occipital regions compared to healthy controls. Findings were not accounted for by antipsychotic medication use, cannabis use, or general intelligence. Thus, these observations suggest that emerging psychosis may have an impact on typical neuromaturational changes that occur during adolescence.