Grey matter correlates of early psychotic symptoms in adolescents at enhanced risk of psychosis: A voxel-based study

A three-fold enhanced risk of schizophrenia is conferred by learning disability. Here we use voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate grey matter correlates of early psychotic and related symptoms in 137 adolescents at enhanced risk of this disorder because of intellectual disability. Anxiety, hallucinations, incoherence of speech and delusions were assessed at clinical interview, and VBM was used to examine linear associations between symptom severity and grey matter density (GMD). We found significant correlations between anxiety and GMD in the right dorsomedial thalamic nucleus, left parahippocampal gyrus and left hippocampus. Incoherence of speech was associated with GMD in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Gender-separate analysis demonstrated correlations between anxiety and GMD in the right dorsomedial thalamic nucleus of males and the right pulvinar nucleus of females, hallucinations and GMD in the right STG of males, delusions and GMD in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) of females, and incoherence of speech and GMD in the right MTG of males and both cerebellar hemispheres and right inferior temporal gyrus of females. Findings are consistent with symptom–structure associates previously reported in populations with schizophrenia or at enhanced genetic risk, and suggest an anatomical basis for the psychopathology found in this young nonclinical population.