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Verbal Learning and Memory in At-risk Mental State and First Episode Psychosis Patients and Their Correlates to Brain Structural Alterations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

C. Lenz
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
E. Studerus
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
U. Heitz
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
S. Menghini-Müller
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
F. Harrisberger
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
S. Ittig
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
K. Beck
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
L. Leanza
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
C. Andreou
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
A. Riecher-Rössler
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland
S. Borgwardt
Affiliation:
University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

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Introduction

Patients with a first episode psychosis (FEP) have repeatedly been shown to have gray matter (GM) volume alterations. Some of these neuroanatomical abnormalities are already evident in the at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis. Not only GM alterations but also neurocognitive impairments predate the onset of frank psychosis with verbal learning and memory (VLM) being among the most impaired domains. Yet, their interconnection with alterations in GM volumes remains ambiguous.

Objective

To evaluate associations of different subcortical GM volumes in the medial temporal lobe with VLM performance in ARMS and FEP patients.

Methods

Data were collected within the prospective Früherkennung von Psychosen (FePsy) study, which aims to improve the early detection of psychosis. VLM was assessed using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and its latent variables Attention Span (AS), Learning Efficiency (LE), Delayed Memory (DM) and Inaccurate Memory (IM). Structural images were acquired using a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

Results

Data from 59 ARMS and 47 FEP patients were analysed. Structural equation models revealed significant associations between the amygdala and AS, LE and IM; thalamus and LE and IM; and the caudate, hippocampus and putamen with IM. However, none of these significant results withstood correction for multiple testing.

Conclusions

Although VLM is among the most impaired cognitive domains in emerging psychosis, we could not find an association between low performance in this domain and reductions in subcortical GM volumes. Our results suggest that deficits in this domain may not stem from alterations in subcortical structures.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
Oral communications: Rehabilitation and psychoeducation and schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017
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