Sammendrag
Background. First-episode psychosis (FEP) patients show structural brain abnormalities. Whether the changes are progressive
or not remain under debate, and the results from longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are
mixed. We investigated if FEP patients showed a different pattern of regional brain structural change over a 1-year period
compared with healthy controls, and if putative changes correlated with clinical characteristics and outcome.
Method. MRIs of 79 FEP patients [SCID-I-verified diagnoses: schizophrenia, psychotic bipolar disorder, or other psychoses,
mean age 27.6 (S.D. = 7.7) years, 66% male] and 82 healthy controls [age 29.3 (S.D. = 7.2) years, 66% male] were
acquired from the same 1.5 T scanner at baseline and 1-year follow-up as part of the Thematically Organized
Psychosis (TOP) study, Oslo, Norway. Scans were automatically processed with the longitudinal stream in FreeSurfer
that creates an unbiased within-subject template image. General linear models were used to analyse longitudinal change
in a wide range of subcortical volumes and detailed thickness and surface area estimates across the entire cortex, and
associations with clinical characteristics.
Results. FEP patients and controls did not differ significantly in annual percentage change in cortical thickness or area in
any cortical region, or in any of the subcortical structures after adjustment for multiple comparisons. Within the FEP
group, duration of untreated psychosis, age at illness onset, antipsychotic medication use and remission at follow-up
were not related to longitudinal brain change.
Conclusions. We found no significant longitudinal brain changes over a 1-year period in FEP patients. Our results do
not support early progressive brain changes in psychotic disorders.
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