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The Relationship Between White Matter Microstructure and General Cognitive Ability in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Participants in the ENIGMA Consortium.

Authors :
Holleran L
Kelly S
Alloza C
Agartz I
Andreassen OA
Arango C
Banaj N
Calhoun V
Cannon D
Carr V
Corvin A
Glahn DC
Gur R
Hong E
Hoschl C
Howells FM
James A
Janssen J
Kochunov P
Lawrie SM
Liu J
Martinez C
McDonald C
Morris D
Mothersill D
Pantelis C
Piras F
Potkin S
Rasser PE
Roalf D
Rowland L
Satterthwaite T
Schall U
Spalletta G
Spaniel F
Stein DJ
Uhlmann A
Voineskos A
Zalesky A
van Erp TGM
Turner JA
Deary IJ
Thompson PM
Jahanshad N
Donohoe G
Source :
The American journal of psychiatry [Am J Psychiatry] 2020 Jun 01; Vol. 177 (6), pp. 537-547. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Mar 26.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

Objective: Schizophrenia has recently been associated with widespread white matter microstructural abnormalities, but the functional effects of these abnormalities remain unclear. Widespread heterogeneity of results from studies published to date preclude any definitive characterization of the relationship between white matter and cognitive performance in schizophrenia. Given the relevance of deficits in cognitive function to predicting social and functional outcomes in schizophrenia, the authors carried out a meta-analysis of available data through the ENIGMA Consortium, using a common analysis pipeline, to elucidate the relationship between white matter microstructure and a measure of general cognitive performance, IQ, in patients with schizophrenia and healthy participants.<br />Methods: The meta-analysis included 760 patients with schizophrenia and 957 healthy participants from 11 participating ENIGMA Consortium sites. For each site, principal component analysis was used to calculate both a global fractional anisotropy component (gFA) and a fractional anisotropy component for six long association tracts (LA-gFA) previously associated with cognition.<br />Results: Meta-analyses of regression results indicated that gFA accounted for a significant amount of variation in cognition in the full sample (effect size [Hedges' g]=0.27, CI=0.17-0.36), with similar effects sizes observed for both the patient (effect size=0.20, CI=0.05-0.35) and healthy participant groups (effect size=0.32, CI=0.18-0.45). Comparable patterns of association were also observed between LA-gFA and cognition for the full sample (effect size=0.28, CI=0.18-0.37), the patient group (effect size=0.23, CI=0.09-0.38), and the healthy participant group (effect size=0.31, CI=0.18-0.44).<br />Conclusions: This study provides robust evidence that cognitive ability is associated with global structural connectivity, with higher fractional anisotropy associated with higher IQ. This association was independent of diagnosis; while schizophrenia patients tended to have lower fractional anisotropy and lower IQ than healthy participants, the comparable size of effect in each group suggested a more general, rather than disease-specific, pattern of association.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1535-7228
Volume :
177
Issue :
6
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
The American journal of psychiatry
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
32212855
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19030225