Intra and inter-individual variability in functional connectomes of patients with First Episode of Psychosis

Patients with Schizophrenia may show different clinical presentations, not only regarding inter-individual comparisons but also in one specific subject over time. In fMRI studies, functional connectomes have been shown to carry valuable individual level information, which can be associated with cognitive and behavioral variables. Moreover, functional connectomes have been used to identify subjects within a group, as if they were fingerprints. For the particular case of Schizophrenia, it has been shown that there is reduced connectome stability as well as higher inter-individual variability. Here, we studied inter and intra-individual heterogeneity by exploring functional connectomes’ variability and related it with clinical variables (PANSS Total scores and antipsychotic’s doses). Our sample consisted of 30 patients with First Episode of Psychosis and 32 Healthy Controls, with a test–retest approach of two resting-state fMRI scanning sessions. In our patients’ group, we found increased deviation from healthy functional connectomes and increased intragroup inter-subject variability, which was positively correlated to symptoms’ levels in six subnetworks (visual, somatomotor, dorsal attention, ventral attention, frontoparietal and DMN). Moreover, changes in symptom severity were positively related to changes in deviation from healthy functional connectomes. Regarding intra-subject variability, we were unable to replicate previous findings of reduced connectome stability (i.e., increased intra-subject variability), but we found a trend suggesting that result. Our findings highlight the relevance of variability characterization in Schizophrenia, and they can be related to evidence of Schizophrenia patients having a noisy functional connectome.