Exploration of the Effect of Demographic and Clinical Confounding Variables on Results of Voxel-Based Morphometric Analysis in Schizophrenia

Vijayakumari, Anupa A.; Thirunavukkarasu, Priyadarshini; Lukose, Ammu; Arunachalam, Vikram; Saini, Jitender; Jain, Sanjeev; Kutty, Bindu M.; John, John P.

doi:10.1007/978-81-322-2126-5_16

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We have recently reported the importance of controlling for these confounding factors in brain morphometric studies of schizophrenia [25]. In the present study, we attempted to control for the effect of these confounding factors at the subject recruitment as well as data analysis stages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mentioned in the Introduction, the major focus of this study was to examine whether whole- or regional-brain morphometric abnormalities are detectable in a sample of patients with schizophrenia even after controlling for possible socio-demographic and clinical confounding factors that could impact brain volumes. We have recently reported the importance of controlling for these confounding factors in brain morphometric studies of schizophrenia [ 25 ]. In the present study, we attempted to control for the effect of these confounding factors at the subject recruitment as well as data analysis stages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perhaps the most serious methodological consideration in whole-brain voxel-based morphometric analyses is the reporting of results without specifying whether they are corrected for multiple comparisons or not [ 24 ]. We have recently reported the importance of controlling for the socio-demographic and clinical confounding factors affecting brain volumes as well as the use of statistical significance thresholds corrected for multiple comparisons in brain morphometric studies of schizophrenia [ 25 ]. Another major issue that is often not given its due consideration is the bias against publication of negative findings [ 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A systematic examination of brain volumetric abnormalities in recent-onset schizophrenia using voxel-based, surface-based and region-of-interest-based morphometric analyses

John

Lukose

Bagepally

et al. 2015

J Negat Results BioMed

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundBrain morphometric abnormalities in schizophrenia have been extensively reported in the literature. Whole-brain volumetric reductions are almost universally reported by most studies irrespective of the characteristics of the samples studied (e.g., chronic/recent-onset; medicated/neuroleptic-naïve etc.). However, the same cannot be said of the reported regional morphometric abnormalities in schizophrenia. While certain regional morphometric abnormalities are more frequently reported than others, there are no such abnormalities that are universally reported across studies. Variability of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics across study samples as well as technical and methodological issues related to acquisition and analyses of brain structural images may contribute to inconsistency of brain morphometric findings in schizophrenia. The objective of the present study therefore was to systematically examine brain morphometry in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia to find out if there are significant whole-brain or regional volumetric differences detectable at the appropriate significance threshold, after attempting to control for various confounding factors that could impact brain volumes.MethodsStructural magnetic resonance images of 90 subjects (schizophrenia = 45; healthy subjects = 45) were acquired using a 3 Tesla magnet. Morphometric analyses were carried out following standard analyses pipelines of three most commonly used strategies, viz., whole-brain voxel-based morphometry, whole-brain surface-based morphometry, and between-group comparisons of regional volumes generated by automated segmentation and parcellation.ResultsIn our sample of patients having recent-onset schizophrenia with limited neuroleptic exposure, there were no significant whole brain or regional brain morphometric abnormalities noted at the appropriate statistical significance thresholds with or without including age, gender and intracranial volume or total brain volume in the statistical analyses.ConclusionsIn the background of the conflicting findings in the literature, our findings indicate that brain morphometric abnormalities may not be directly related to the schizophrenia phenotype. Analysis of the reasons for the inconsistent results across studies as well as consideration of alternate sources of variability of brain morphology in schizophrenia such as epistatic and epigenetic mechanisms could perhaps advance our understanding of structural brain alterations in schizophrenia.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12952-015-0030-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%