Investigating commonalities in underlying pathology of cognitive dysfunction and negative symptoms in schizophrenia is important, as both are core features of the disorder and linked to brain structure abnormalities. We aimed to explore the relationship between cognition, negative symptoms and brain structure in schizophrenia. A total of 225 patients with Schizophrenia spectrum disorder and 283 healthy controls from the Norwegian Thematically Organized Psychosis (TOP) cohort were included in this study. Patients were categorized into four patient subgroups based on severity of negative symptoms: no-negative- (NNS), threshold-negative- (TNS), moderate-negative- (MNS), and prominent-negative (PNS) subgroups. MRI measures of brain volume, mean cortical thickness and surface area from pre-selected brain regions were tested for relationships with general cognitive ability and negative symptom subgroups. Positive associations were found between brain volume, thickness, surface area and cognition in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), fusiform gyrus (FG) and the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), but with no differences between subgroups. In the PNS subgroup, cognition was conversely negatively associated with brain volume in the left ACC. These results indicate that patients with prominent negative symptoms have different associations between cognition and brain structure in the left ACC, which may point to abnormal neurodevelopment.

中文翻译：

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显着阴性症状患者的大脑结构与认知功能之间的不同关系

研究精神分裂症中认知功能障碍和阴性症状的潜在病理学的共性很重要，因为两者都是该疾病的核心特征并与大脑结构异常有关。我们旨在探讨精神分裂症患者认知、阴性症状和大脑结构之间的关系。本研究共包括来自挪威主题组织精神病 (TOP) 队列的 225 名精神分裂症谱系障碍患者和 283 名健康对照者。根据阴性症状的严重程度将患者分为四个患者亚组：无阴性（NNS）、阈值阴性（TNS）、中度阴性（MNS）和显着阴性（PNS）亚组。脑容量的MRI测量，测试来自预选大脑区域的平均皮质厚度和表面积与一般认知能力和阴性症状亚组的关系。在背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC)、眶额皮层 (OFC)、梭状回 (FG) 和左前扣带皮层 (ACC) 的脑容量、厚度、表面积和认知之间发现正相关，但亚组之间没有差异. 在 PNS 亚组中，认知与左侧 ACC 的脑容量呈负相关。这些结果表明，具有显着阴性症状的患者在左侧 ACC 的认知和大脑结构之间存在不同的关联，这可能表明神经发育异常。背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC)、眶额皮层 (OFC)、梭状回 (FG) 和左前扣带皮层 (ACC) 的厚度、表面积和认知，但亚组之间没有差异。在 PNS 亚组中，认知与左侧 ACC 的脑容量呈负相关。这些结果表明，具有显着阴性症状的患者在左侧 ACC 的认知和大脑结构之间存在不同的关联，这可能表明神经发育异常。背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC)、眶额皮层 (OFC)、梭状回 (FG) 和左前扣带皮层 (ACC) 的厚度、表面积和认知，但亚组之间没有差异。在 PNS 亚组中，认知与左侧 ACC 的脑容量呈负相关。这些结果表明，具有显着阴性症状的患者在左侧 ACC 的认知和大脑结构之间存在不同的关联，这可能表明神经发育异常。