The image displays the gray matter volume analyses in the recorded data in the SSD study. The means are fixed for IQ, intracranial volume, sex, and age. (= p < .05, = p <  .001, with False Discovery Rate corrected). AVH+ means patients with auditory verbal hallucinations, and AVH- means patients without said hallucinations.

University of Illinois at Chicago

The aims of this study were to analyse AVH symptoms and determine their association with anomalies in brain areas that process language. This study found that their results were consistent with other studies. Patients with SSDs (schizophrenia spectrum disorders) showed subcortical and cortical GMV reductions across multiple parts of the brain. The whole-brain cortical analysis volume (specifically a right sided ventral prefrontal cluster) had a significant relation to the intensity of AVHs. 

Discussion of structural brain differences in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with and without auditory verbal hallucinations

Tobias Ysbæk-Nielsen, A., Gogolu, R. F., Tranter, M., & Obel, Z. K. (2024, August 6). Structural brain differences in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with and without auditory verbal hallucinations. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925492724000866 

Brain differences in patients with schizophrenia with/without auditory verbal hallucinations

GMV (gray matter volume) in SSD patients have similarities to meta-analyses by the ENIGMA consortium that found regional and global volume reductions in schizophrenia cohorts.Similar patterns have also been found in schizoaffective disorder studies, supporting the concept that the two SSDs are related in many aspects. This study is not able to determine the exact degree to which GMV reduction is a specific indicator of SSDs or if it is just similar to general psychological factors. On top of GMV reductions, volume reductions in the hippocampus and thalamus were also uncovered. 

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