CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 453Schizophrenia research and treatmentMental Health and PsychiatryNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Progressive loss of cortical gray matter in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of longitudinal MRI studies

Open access
Vita, A, De Peri, L, Deste, G, Sacchetti, E·2012·Translational Psychiatry
DOI 10.1038/tp.2012.116PMC PMC3565772
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Cortical gray matter deficits have been found in patients with schizophrenia, with evidence of progression over time. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of progressive cortical gray matter volume changes over time in schizophrenia, their site and time of occurrence, and the role of potential moderators of brain changes. English language articles published between 1 January 1983 and 31 March 2012 in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging studies comparing changes in cortical gray matter volume over time between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls were included. Hedges g was calculated for each study. Analyses were performed using fixed- and random-effects models. A subgroup analysis was run to explore the pattern of brain changes in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. A meta-regression statistic was adopted to investigate the role of potential moderators of the effect sizes (ESs). A total of 19 studies, analyzing 813 patients with schizophrenia and 718 healthy controls, were included. Over time, patients with schizophrenia showed a significantly higher volume loss of total cortical gray matter, left superior temporal gyrus (STG), left anterior STG, left Heschl gyrus, left planum temporale and posterior STG bilaterally. Meta-analysis of first-episode schizophrenic patients showed a more significant pattern of progressive loss of whole cerebral gray matter volume involving the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, and left Heschl gyrus compared with healthy controls. Clinical, pharmacologic and neuroradiological variables were found to be significant moderators of brain volume changes in patients with schizophrenia. The meta-analysis demonstrates that progressive cortical gray matter changes in schizophrenia occur with regional and temporal specificity. The underlying pathological process appears to be especially active in the first stages of the disease, affects the left hemisphere and the superior temporal structures more and is at least partly moderated by the type of pharmacological treatment received.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/tp.2012.116

Cites

113 of 113 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Psychotic relapse is associated with multiple downstream effects on disease course and brain structure, such as progressive decline in gray and white matter structure and volume.

    “Psychotic relapse is extremely disruptive to patients and their families and is associated with multiple downstream effects on disease course and brain structure [2], such as progressive decline in gray and white matter structure and volume [8, 9].”

    From Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics for Schizophrenia: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) reports accelerated gray-matter loss early in schizophrenia and mentions evidence of progressive white-matter volume loss, though the latter was not directly investigated in this meta-analysis. It does not establish that psychotic relapse is associated with, or causes, those changes. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • A meta-analysis found progressive loss of gray matter in the PFC and temporal lobe in individuals with schizophrenia, especially during the first episode.

    “For example, a meta-analysis found progressive loss of gray matter in the PFC and temporal lobe in individuals with schizophrenia, especially during the first episode, suggesting that the onset of schizophrenia triggers a neurodegenerative process that could impair EF (Vita et al., 2012).”

    From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Vita et al., 2012

    The Results (first-episode schizophrenia) report greater gray-matter loss in the frontal and temporal lobes of first-episode patients than in controls, and the Discussion says tissue loss is especially active early in the illness. The paper reports the frontal lobe as a whole, not a PFC-specific finding, so that anatomical detail is not established by this source. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The onset of schizophrenia triggers a neurodegenerative process that could impair EF.

    “For example, a meta-analysis found progressive loss of gray matter in the PFC and temporal lobe in individuals with schizophrenia, especially during the first episode, suggesting that the onset of schizophrenia triggers a neurodegenerative process that could impair EF (Vita et al., 2012).”

    From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Vita et al., 2012

    The Results (page unavailable) report greater frontal- and temporal-lobe gray-matter loss in first-episode schizophrenia, and the Discussion proposes a neurodegenerative process particularly detectable around onset. But the Discussion says prefrontal cortex gray matter could not be investigated; it does not establish that onset triggers the process or that the tissue loss impairs executive function. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Hedges LV Holkin I Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis Academic Press: New York 1985
  2. DeLisi LE Stritzke P Riordan H Holan V Boccio A Kushner M The timing of brain morphological changes in schizophrenia and their relationship to clinical outcome Biol Psychiatry 1992 31 241 254 1547298

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Vita, A., De Peri, L., Deste, G., & Sacchetti, E.
Affiliations
  • University of Brescia (IT)
  • Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale degli Spedali Civili di Brescia (IT)
Corresponding author
Vita, A
ORCID
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2012-11-20
Volume
2
Issue
11
Pages
e190-e190
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/tp.2012.116
PMC
PMC3565772
OpenAlex
W2094919766
Cited by
453
References
113
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 11
FWCI
3.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2013-06-25)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Brescia) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
schizophrenia, brain atrophy, first-episode schizophrenia, superior temporal gyrus, planum temporale, left hemisphere, antipsychotic drugs, longitudinal MRI
MeSH terms
Cerebral Cortex, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Organ Size, Regression Analysis, Schizophrenia, Antipsychotic Agents, Disease Progression, Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review