The relationships between obstetric complications, brain morphology, and neuropsychological functions in the offspring at high risk of schizophrenia

我们比较了产科并发症（OC）的发生率，在先前的流行病学研究中，产科并发症已被确定为精神分裂症的危险因素，在患有精神分裂症的父母之一的非患病后代之间（即，高风险个体）和正常对照受试者。结果，我们发现高风险组的OC发生率高于对照组。特别是，患有这种疾病的父亲的后代同样显示出OC的发病率升高，这表明从父亲传递给后代的基因可能在使后代易患OC事件方面发挥作用。我们仍在招募高风险个体;然而，我们意识到很难获得非患病受试者参与研究的知情同意书，需要进行详细访谈以获得背景信息、MRI扫描和神经心理学评估。虽然数据已经被积极收集，但还需要几年的时间进行招募，以进行适当的统计分析，并具有足够的统计能力。为了解决遗传易感性与MRI和神经心理学变量之间的关系，我们专注于在生命早期发展出这种疾病的个体，即，发病年龄在16岁以下，被认为比成年发病者更同质，更具有遗传决定性。与正常对照组相比，早发性（EOS）个体表现出明显减少的灰质体积;当通过威斯康星州卡片分类测试（WCST）评估的执行功能与使用SPM 99的基于体素的形态测量的脑形态数据之间的关系时，左颞叶的体积与持续错误分数呈负相关，表明执行功能越差，颞叶体积的减少越大。

We compared the rate of obstetric complications (OCs), which have been established as a risk factor for schizophrenia in prior epidemiological studies, between the non-ill offspring of either parent with the disorder (i.e., high risk individuals) and normal control subjects. As a result, we found a higher rate of OCs in the high risk group than in the control group. In particular, the finding that the offspring of fathers with the condition similarly showed an elevated rate of OCs indicates that gene(s) transmitted from fathers to the offspring may play a role in predisposing the offspring to experiencing the events of OCs. We are still recruiting high risk individuals ; however, we realized that it is difficult to obtain consent from the non-ill subjects for participation into the study, in which detailed interview to obtain background information, MRI scanning, and neuropsychological assessments are required. Although data have been vigorously collected, a few more years are needed for recruitment to proceed to perform proper statistical analysis with adequate statistical power.To address the relationships between the genetic liability and MRI and neuropsychological variables, we focused on individuals who developed the condition early in life, i.e., with an age of onset less than 16 years, who are deemed to be more homogeneous and more genetically determined than adult-onset persons. When compared to normal controls, early onset (EOS) individuals showed significantly reduced gray matter volume ; in effect, an about 6% reduction was found. When the relationship between executive function as assessed by Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and brain morphological data using voxel-based morphometry with SPM99 within the patient group, volumes in the left temporal lobe were found to be negatively correlated with the perseverative error scores, indicating that the severer the executive function, the greater the reduction in the temporal lobe volume.