STRUCTURAL ABNORMALITIES OF THE BRAIN IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - SEX-DIFFERENCES IN THE CANTABRIA FIRST EPISODE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA STUDY

This paper examines structural brain abnormalities, as evaluated by th e CT scan, in first episodes of schizophrenia and their association wi th sociodemographic, diagnostic and clinical variables. The investigat ion included all patients with a first episode of schizophrenia who, o ver a 2-year period, made contact with any of the public mental health services of the Autonomous Region of Cantabria in Northern Spain. Dia gnostic and clinical characteristics were evaluated through the use of the Spanish version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) and the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SANS and SAPS respectively). The study demonstrated the presence of structural brain abnormalities in this sample of first episode schizophrenics. Th ese abnormalities were mainly expressed in the presence of larger VER for schizophrenic patients than in the controls, these findings being more marked in women than in men. We failed to reveal, however, any ev idence of an association of these brain abnormalities with diagnostic or clinical characteristics.