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Schizophrenia (SZ) is associated with an increased risk of life-long cognitive impairments, age-related chronic disease, and premature mortality. We investigated evidence for advanced brain ageing in adult SZ patients, and whether this was associated with clinical characteristics in a prospective meta-analytic study conducted by the ENIGMA Schizophrenia Working Group. The study included data from 26 cohorts worldwide, with a total of 2803 SZ patients (mean age 34.2 years; range 18-72 years; 67% male) and 2598 healthy controls (mean age 33.8 years, range 18-73 years, 55% male). Brain-predicted age was individually estimated using a model trained on independent data based on 68 measures of cortical thickness and surface area, 7 subcortical volumes, lateral ventricular volumes and total intracranial volume, all derived from T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Deviations from a healthy brain ageing trajectory were assessed by the difference between brain-predicted age and chronological age (brain-predicted age difference [brain-PAD]). On average, SZ patients showed a higher brain-PAD of +3.55 years (95% CI: 2.91, 4.19; I2 = 57.53%) compared to controls, after adjusting for age, sex and site (Cohen's d = 0.48). Among SZ patients, brain-PAD was not associated with specific clinical characteristics (age of onset, duration of illness, symptom severity, or antipsychotic use and dose). This large-scale collaborative study suggests advanced structural brain ageing in SZ. Longitudinal studies of SZ and a range of mental and somatic health outcomes will help to further evaluate the clinical implications of increased brain-PAD and its ability to be influenced by interventions.

Introduction: Body image concerns related to breast cancer surgery may challenge patients’ quality of life and their treatment outcomes, thus representing a key aspect to be assessed in the psycho-oncological settings. The present longitudinal study is aimed to (1) investigate the association between preoperative body image and postoperative psychological symptoms in breast cancer patients; (2) explore the impact of pre−/post-surgery variation in body image on psychological symptomatology. Methods: N =  72 women undergoing breast cancer surgery were preoperatively screened (T1) using the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) and were assessed postoperatively (T2) using the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) and re-administered the BUT. Spearman’s correlation was used to investigate the relationship between age, preoperative body image and postoperative psychological symptoms, and variation in body image. To predict post-surgical psychological symptomatology, two separated multiple regression models were used to evaluate preoperative body image and its variation after surgery controlling for covariates (i.e., education; intervention type). P significance was set as 0.05 for all analyses and adjusted for multiple comparisons. Results: At T1, anxiety in relation to body image scores emerged as the most frequently experienced psychological symptomatology after surgery (all adjusted p <  0.05). Significant correlations were observed between all SCL90-R scores at T2 and avoidance behaviors and depersonalization scores at T1. The associations were most significantly strong for somatization, depression, anxiety, and hostility (all adjusted p <  0.05). However, change in body image between pre- and post-intervention was not associated with psychological symptomatology at T2 (all adjusted p >  0.05). Pre-surgery body avoidance was significantly associated with post-intervention psychological symptoms (SOMβ  =  0.453, p =  0.0001; DEPβ  =  0.507, p =  0.0001; AXβ  =  0.459, p =  0.0001; HOSβ  =  0.410, p=. 0001). However, increased weight phobia between preand post-surgery was statistically associated with increased somatization, anxiety, depression and hostility at T2 (βSOM  =  0.439, p =  0.0001; βDEP =  0.454, p =  0.0001; βANX  =  0.471, p =  0.0001). Discussion: Overall, pre−/post-intervention body concerns were significantly associated with primary psychological symptoms in breast cancer patients undergoing surgery. Higher levels of body avoidance and weight phobia were significantly associated with the primary psychological dimensions assessed. As body concerns might act as quality-of-life predictors, their evaluation is crucial in fostering patients’ well-being and treatment adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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