Scans Could Predict Onset Of Schizophrenia, Study Suggests

news headlines

email to a friend

printer friendly

Scans Could Predict Onset Of Schizophrenia, Study Suggests

Main Category: Schizophrenia
Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 23 Dec 2010

Brain scans could be used to predict the onset of schizophrenia in young people with a family history of the disease, a study suggests.

A University of Edinburgh study has shown that the brains of people who later develop schizophrenia suffer from an accelerated shrinking as they develop symptoms before they first become unwell.

Schizophrenia - a condition characterised by delusions and hallucinations that affects 1 in every 100 people - is associated with a reduction in brain tissue but the timing of these changes has, until now, been unclear.

The study examined people at high risk of schizophrenia who had two close relatives with the disorder and were between 16 and 25 at the beginning of the study.

This is the first time that such changes in the brain size have been found in people at high risk of schizophrenia before they develop any symptoms. Unlike previous studies, these changes can not be due to medication as all of the people in the study were un-medicated when they took part.

In healthy people, the brain begins to shrink from early adulthood onwards.

It is known that accelerated brain shrinkage occurs in people with bipolar disorder (or manic-depression) and schizophrenia, but until now it was not known whether these changes occurred before people became unwell.

Researchers say that scans could be used to identify shrinkage of the brain in people at high risk of schizophrenia and may help doctors to diagnose the condition and start treatment at an earlier stage or even before illness first appears.

The study, published in the Journal Biological Psychiatry, shows that the loss of brain tissue is concentrated in areas of the brain that control personality, decision making and social behaviour.

Dr. Andrew McIntosh, of the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, said: "This study represents the culmination of more than 10-years of work and is a significant step to understanding the origins of schizophrenia years before the onset of disability and medical treatment"

The team analysed brain scans of 146 people with a family history of schizophrenia - but who had not yet experienced any symptoms - and compared them to scans of 36 people with no such risk.

The scans were taken every 18 months over a ten year period..

This work was supported by NARSAD (The National Alliance for Research into Schizophrenia and Depression), The Sackler Foundation, The Health Foundation and by the Medical Research Council.

Source:
University of Edinburgh

Original article posted on Medical News Today.
Articles not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Medical News Today publishes the latest health news and health videos for consumers and health professionals. It has a searchable archive of over 100,000 health news articles.

< back to medical news

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Send your press releases to