The correlates of cortical sulci atrophy and central atrophy in a cohort of schizophrenia and manic subjects in Nigeria

Abstract

The prevalence of brain cortical sulci atrophy and central (subcortical) atrophy among Nigerian psychiatric patients is highlighted and compared with findings from developed countries. The relationship between these indices of brain atrophy and clinical parameters is also examined. Visual ratings of cortical sulci atrophy and central (subcortical) atrophy, assessed on the computed tomography (CT) image console, were compared among 50 patients with schizophrenia, 14 patients with mania and 41 healthy control subjects. The patients with schizophrenia and the patients with mania had a significantly higher prevalence of brain atrophy than normal subjects. Among the patients with schizophrenia, indices of brain atrophy were not significantly associated with disease outcome, and the presence of negative symptoms. In view of the findings from a parallel study of the same patients that psychiatric patient groups showed other evidence of CT abnormalities, the findings of this study indicate that the so-called functional psychiatric states in developing countries--as in developed countries--are probably associated with some diffuse neuropathological process.