Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia
Abstract Impairments in cognitive performance are common in schizophrenia, and these contribute to poor awareness of symptoms and treatment (‘clinical insight’), which is an important predictor of functional outcome. Although relationships between cognitive impairment and reductions in regional brai...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2022-04-01
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| Series: | npj Schizophrenia |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-022-00243-x |
| _version_ | 1797423708339437568 |
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| author | Erkan Alkan Simon L. H. Evans |
| author_facet | Erkan Alkan Simon L. H. Evans |
| author_sort | Erkan Alkan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Impairments in cognitive performance are common in schizophrenia, and these contribute to poor awareness of symptoms and treatment (‘clinical insight’), which is an important predictor of functional outcome. Although relationships between cognitive impairment and reductions in regional brain volumes in patients are relatively well characterised, less is known about the brain structural correlates of clinical insight. To address this gap, we aimed to explore brain structural correlates of cognitive performance and clinical insight in the same sample. 108 patients with schizophrenia (SZH) and 94 age and gender-matched controls (CON) (from the Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST) database) were included. SZH had smaller grey matter volume across most fronto-temporal regions and significantly poorer performance on all cognitive domains. Multiple regression showed that higher positive symptoms and poorer attention were significant predictors of insight in SZH; however, no significant correlations were seen between clinical insight and regional brain volumes. In contrast, symptomology did not contribute to cognitive performance, but robust positive relationships were found between regional grey matter volumes in fronto-temporal regions and cognitive performance (particularly executive function). Many of these appeared to be unique to SZH as they were not observed in CON. Findings suggest that while there exists a tight link between cognitive functioning and neuropathological processes affecting gross brain anatomy in SZH, this is not the case for clinical insight. Instead, clinical insight levels seem to be influenced by symptomology, attentional performance and other subject-specific variables. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:50:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7069967479764a7493846de737c50375 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2334-265X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:50:44Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Schizophrenia |
| spelling | doaj.art-7069967479764a7493846de737c503752023-12-03T01:49:17ZengNature Portfolionpj Schizophrenia2334-265X2022-04-018111010.1038/s41537-022-00243-xRelationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophreniaErkan Alkan0Simon L. H. Evans1Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, GuildfordFaculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, GuildfordAbstract Impairments in cognitive performance are common in schizophrenia, and these contribute to poor awareness of symptoms and treatment (‘clinical insight’), which is an important predictor of functional outcome. Although relationships between cognitive impairment and reductions in regional brain volumes in patients are relatively well characterised, less is known about the brain structural correlates of clinical insight. To address this gap, we aimed to explore brain structural correlates of cognitive performance and clinical insight in the same sample. 108 patients with schizophrenia (SZH) and 94 age and gender-matched controls (CON) (from the Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST) database) were included. SZH had smaller grey matter volume across most fronto-temporal regions and significantly poorer performance on all cognitive domains. Multiple regression showed that higher positive symptoms and poorer attention were significant predictors of insight in SZH; however, no significant correlations were seen between clinical insight and regional brain volumes. In contrast, symptomology did not contribute to cognitive performance, but robust positive relationships were found between regional grey matter volumes in fronto-temporal regions and cognitive performance (particularly executive function). Many of these appeared to be unique to SZH as they were not observed in CON. Findings suggest that while there exists a tight link between cognitive functioning and neuropathological processes affecting gross brain anatomy in SZH, this is not the case for clinical insight. Instead, clinical insight levels seem to be influenced by symptomology, attentional performance and other subject-specific variables.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-022-00243-x |
| spellingShingle | Erkan Alkan Simon L. H. Evans Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia npj Schizophrenia |
| title | Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| title_full | Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| title_fullStr | Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| title_short | Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| title_sort | relationships between cognitive performance clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-022-00243-x |
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