In psychiatry, there has been a growing focus on identifying at-risk populations. For schizophrenia, these efforts have led to the development of early recognition and intervention measures. Despite a similar disease burden, the populations at risk of bipolar disorder have not been sufficiently characterized. Within the BipoLife consortium, we used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from a multicenter study to assess structural gray matter alterations in N = 263 help-seeking individuals from seven study sites. We defined the risk using the EPIbipolar assessment tool as no-risk, low-risk, and high-risk and used a region-of-interest approach (ROI) based on the results of two large-scale multicenter studies of bipolar disorder by the ENIGMA working group. We detected significant differences in the thickness of the left pars opercularis (Cohen’s d = 0.47, p = 0.024) between groups. The cortex was significantly thinner in high-risk individuals compared to those in the no-risk group (p = 0.011). We detected no differences in the hippocampal volume. Exploratory analyses revealed no significant differences in other cortical or subcortical regions. The thinner cortex in help-seeking individuals at risk of bipolar disorder is in line with previous findings in patients with the established disorder and corresponds to the region of the highest effect size in the ENIGMA study of cortical alterations. Structural alterations in prefrontal cortex might be a trait marker of bipolar risk. This is the largest structural MRI study of help-seeking individuals at increased risk of bipolar disorder.

在精神病学中，人们越来越关注识别高危人群。对于精神分裂症，这些努力导致了早期识别和干预措施的发展。尽管有类似的疾病负担，但尚未充分表征有双相情感障碍风险的人群。在 BipoLife 联盟中，我们使用来自多中心研究的磁共振成像 (MRI) 数据来评估来自七个研究地点的N  = 263 名寻求帮助的个体的结构灰质改变。我们使用 EPI双极定义风险根据 ENIGMA 工作组对双相情感障碍的两项大规模多中心研究的结果，将评估工具分为无风险、低风险和高风险，并使用感兴趣区域方法 (ROI)。我们检测到组间左侧鳃盖的厚度存在显着差异（Cohen's d  = 0.47，p  = 0.024）。与无风险组相比，高风险个体的皮层明显变薄（p = 0.011)。我们检测到海马体积没有差异。探索性分析显示其他皮质或皮质下区域没有显着差异。有双相情感障碍风险的寻求帮助者的皮质较薄，这与先前在患有双相情感障碍的患者中的发现一致，并且对应于 ENIGMA 皮质改变研究中影响最大的区域。前额叶皮层的结构改变可能是双相风险的特征标志。这是对双相情感障碍风险增加的寻求帮助者的最大结构 MRI 研究。