Volumes of brain, grey and white matter and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort: An epidemiological approach to analysis

Tanskanen, Päivikki; Haapea, Marianne; Veijola, Juha; Miettunen, Jouko; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Pyhtinen, Juhani; Jones, Peter B.; Isohanni, Matti

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2009.04.009

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 174, Issue 2 , Pages 116-120, 30 November 2009

Volumes of brain, grey and white matter and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort: An epidemiological approach to analysis

Päivikki Tanskanen
- University of Oulu, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, P.O. Box 50, FIN-90029 Oulu, Finland
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 8 315 5363; fax: +358 8 315 5455.
Marianne Haapea
- University of Oulu, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, P.O. Box 50, FIN-90029 Oulu, Finland
- University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
Juha Veijola
- University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
- Academy of Finland, PL 99, FIN-00501 Helsinki, Finland
Jouko Miettunen
- University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
Marjo-Riitta Järvelin
- University of Oulu, Department of Public Health Science and General Practice, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK
Juhani Pyhtinen
- University of Oulu, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, P.O. Box 50, FIN-90029 Oulu, Finland
Peter B. Jones
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry, Box 189, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
Matti Isohanni
- University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

Received 12 February 2007; received in revised form 23 April 2009; accepted 24 April 2009.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in schizophrenia have seldom involved a general population birth cohort or other epidemiological samples. We studied the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort and identified all people with psychotic disorders. Along with an unaffected age-matched control sample (n=100) from the cohort, 54 subjects with schizophrenia underwent MRI brain scan at age 33–35 years from which we defined volumes of whole brain, grey and white matter and intracranial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Whole brain, grey and white matter volumes were 2–3% smaller in the schizophrenia subjects, who showed a 7% increase in CSF volume. These volume changes were independent of the effects of gender, family history of psychosis, perinatal risks or age at onset of illness. Moreover, there was no evidence that the effects were due to particular subgroups of cases having very low or high values. Rather, there were linear trends in the associations between whole brain and grey matter volume measures and schizophrenia. Our study replicates the previous findings of brain volume differences in schizophrenia on a general population level.