Reference
Holleran, L., Kelly, S., Alloza, C., Agartz, I., Andreassen, O. A., Arango, C., ... & Donohoe, G. (2020). The Relationship Between White Matter Microstructure and General Cognitive Ability in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Participants in the ENIGMA Consortium. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(6), 537-547. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19030225
Review
Holleran et al. (2020) conducted a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between white matter microstructure and cognitive performance in patients with schizophrenia and healthy participants using data from the ENIGMA Consortium. The study included 760 patients with schizophrenia and 957 healthy participants from 11 sites. The authors used principal component analysis to calculate a global fractional anisotropy component and a fractional anisotropy component for six long association tracts. The results showed that higher fractional anisotropy was associated with higher cognitive ability. The study provides robust evidence that cognitive ability is associated with global structural connectivity, independent of diagnosis.
The authors noted that schizophrenia is associated with widespread white matter microstructural abnormalities, but the functional effects of these abnormalities remain unclear. This study contributes to the current understanding of the relationship between white matter microstructure and cognitive performance in patients with schizophrenia and healthy participants. The meta-analysis included a large sample size from multiple sites, and a common analysis pipeline was used, which enhances the validity of the results. The findings suggest that there is a more general, rather than disease-specific, pattern of association between fractional anisotropy and cognitive ability.
Overall, the study by Holleran et al. (2020) provides valuable insights into the relationship between white matter microstructure and cognitive performance in patients with schizophrenia and healthy participants. The findings suggest that cognitive ability is associated with global structural connectivity, and the association is independent of diagnosis. The study highlights the importance of investigating the functional effects of white matter microstructural abnormalities in schizophrenia to improve social and functional outcomes in patients.
