Birth season and gross brain morphology associated with early neurodevelopment in schizophrenia spectrum patients and healthy subjects

Tsutomu Takahashi; Daiki Sasabayashi; Yoichiro Takayanagi; Haruko Kobayashi; Misako Torigoe; Kazumi Sakamoto; Yusuke Yuasa; Noa Tsujii; Kyo Noguchi; Michio Suzuki

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111714

Birth season and gross brain morphology associated with early neurodevelopment in schizophrenia spectrum patients and healthy subjects

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2023 Oct:335:111714. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111714. Epub 2023 Sep 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama, Japan; Research Center for Idling Brain Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan. Electronic address: tsutomu@med.u-toyama.ac.jp.
² Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama, Japan; Research Center for Idling Brain Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
³ Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama, Japan; Arisawabashi Hospital, Toyama, Japan.
⁴ Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama, Japan.
⁵ Department of Child Mental Health and Development, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan.
⁶ Department of Radiology, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama, Japan.

PMID: 37690160
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111714

Abstract

This MRI study examined the effects of birth seasons on gross brain characteristics, such as the prevalence/size of midline brain structures (cavum septi pellucidi and adhesio interthalamica), orbitofrontal surface morphology, and insular gross anatomy, in 135 patients with schizophrenia, 47 with schizotypal disorder, and 88 healthy controls. Birth seasons only affected the insular anatomy. Summer-born subjects (N = 110) were characterized by more developed left insular gyri than winter-born subjects; however, this effect had no diagnostic specificity. The present results do not support birth seasons affecting the neurodevelopmental pathology of schizophrenia spectrum.

Keywords: Gyrification; Insular cortex; Magnetic resonance imaging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain / pathology
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Schizophrenia* / pathology
Schizotypal Personality Disorder* / pathology
Seasons