White matter organization and cognition in patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis: Preliminary results from the FOCUS-trial
Poster B122, Tuesday, October 9, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Essex Ballroom
Tina D. Kristensen1,2,3, Rene C.W. Mandl2,3,6, Jens Richardt M. Jepsen2,3,4, Jaychandra Raghava2,3,5, Louise B. Glenthøj2,3, Christina Wenneberg1,2,3,5, Birgitte Fagerlund2,3, Merete Nordentoft1,3,7, Birte Y. Glenthøj2,3,7, Bjørn H. Ebdrup2,3,7; 1Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, DK-2900, Hellerup, Denmark, 2Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, CINS, DK-2600 Glostrup, 3Centre for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CNSR), Mental Health Centre Glostrup, Copenhagen University Hospital, DK-2600 Glostrup, Denmark, 4Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 5Functional Imaging Unit, Dep. of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine and PET, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark, 6Neuroimaging Research Group, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands, 7Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Introduction: The patterns of structural brain abnormalities found in schizophrenia have fueled suggestions, that disturbed interaction between cortical regions may affect higher cognitive functions. This interaction is subserved by the white matter (WM) networks of the brain. Our previous studies on patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) have indicated WM-alterations associated to clinical symptoms and level of function. However, to which extent WM-alterations are also associated with cognitive deficits in UHR-patients is unclear. WM-networks can be examined in vivo by diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), which is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, considered the method of choice to non-invasively study aspects of WM-organization. Objective: We aim to examine 1) If WM organization of UHR patients is disrupted compared to that of healthy controls; 2) If WM organization is associated with cognitive deficits in UHR-patients. Methods: The FOCUS trial is a randomized, controlled trial comparing cognitive remediation and social-cognitive training versus standard treatment for UHR-patients. Here we present cross-sectional, preliminary baseline data, and we examine group differences on DWI-parameters between 120 UHR-patients and 50 healthy controls (HC). Applying multivariate statistics, we additionally analyze associations between DWI parameters, and cognition assessed by neuro- and social-cognitive measures (BACS, CANTAB, TASIT, ERT, HiSoC, SCSQ). Results: Preliminary results indicate significant global and widespread patterns of WM-abnormalities in UHR-patients compared to HC. Analyses on associations between disrupted WM-organization and potential cognitive deficits in UHR-patients are currently running and will be presented.
Topic Area: Ultra High Risk / Prodromal Research