Altered Temporal Dynamics of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adolescent-Onset First-Episode Psychosis

Background Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) alterations have been reported in patients with adult-onset and chronic psychosis. We sought to examine whether such abnormalities were also observed in patients with first episode, adolescent-onset psychosis (AOP), in order to rule out potential effects of chronicity and protracted antipsychotic treatment exposure. AOP has been suggested to have less diagnostic specificity compared to psychosis with onset in adulthood and occurs during a period of neurodevelopmental changes in brain functional connections. Study Design Seventy-nine patients with first episode, AOP (36 patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, SSD; and 43 with affective psychotic disorder, AF) and 54 healthy controls (HC), aged 10 to 17 years were included. Participants underwent clinical and cognitive assessments and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Graph-based measures were used to analyze temporal trajectories of dFC, which were compared between patients with SSD, AF, and HC. Within patients, we also tested associations between dFC parameters and clinical variables. Study Results Patients with SSD temporally visited the different connectivity states in a less efficient way (reduced global efficiency), visiting fewer nodes (larger temporal modularity, and increased immobility), with a reduction in the metabolic expenditure (cost and leap size), relative to AF and HC (effect sizes: Cohen's D, ranging 0.54 to.91). In youth with AF, these parameters did not differ compared to HC. Connectivity measures were not associated with clinical severity, intelligence, cannabis use, or dose of antipsychotic medication. Conclusions dFC measures hold potential towards the development of brain-based biomarkers characterizing adolescent-onset SSD.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate whether patients with first episode, adolescent-onset psychosis (AOP) exhibit dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) alterations similar to those seen in adult-onset and chronic psychosis patients. The results showed that AOP patients had similar dFC alterations to adult-onset and chronic psychosis patients, indicating that these abnormalities are not influenced by chronicity or prolonged antipsychotic treatment exposure. This study provides insight into the neurodevelopmental changes in brain functional connections during adolescence and suggests the potential for using dFC measures as biomarkers for characterizing adolescent-onset psychosis.