Abstract
Objective: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is highly prevalent in schizophrenia and often a consequence of unhealthy behaviour. Reward-related brain areas might be associated with MS, since they play a major role in regulating health behaviour. This study examined the relationship between MS and brain volumes related to the reward system in schizophrenia. Method: We included patients with schizophrenia, with MS (MS+; n = 23), patients with schizophrenia, without MS (MS−; n = 48), and healthy controls (n = 54). Global brain volumes and volumes of (sub)cortical areas, part of the reward circuit, were compared between patients and controls. In case of a significant brain volume difference between patients and controls, the impact of MS in schizophrenia was examined. Results: Patients had smaller total brain (TB; P = 0.001), GM (P = 0.010), larger ventricles (P = 0.026), and smaller reward circuit volume (P < 0.001) than controls. MS+ had smaller TB (P = 0.017), GM (P = 0.008), larger ventricles (P = 0.015), and smaller reward circuit volume (P = 0.002) than MS−. MS+ had smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; P = 0.002) and insula volumes (P = 0.005) and smaller OFC (P = 0.008) and insula cortical surface area (P = 0.025) compared to MS−. Conclusion: In schizophrenia, structural brain volume reductions in areas of the reward circuitry appear to be related to comorbid MS.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 581-590 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica |
| Volume | 138 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Rene S. Kahn is or has been a member of DSMB for Janssen, Otsuka, Sunovion, and Roche. Wiepke Cahn is or has been an unrestricted research grant holder with, or has received financial compensation as an independent symposium speaker or as a consultant from Eli Lilly, BMS, Lundbeck, Sanofi-Aventis, Janssen-Cilag, AstraZeneca, and Schering-Plough. All the other authors have declared that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Geesthacht program of the Dutch Health Research Council (ZON-MW, grant number 10-000-1001). We are grateful for the generosity of time and effort by the participants and their families, healthy subjects, and all researchers who make this GROUP-project possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
