An Iseul, Choi Tai Kiu, Bang Minji, Lee Sang-Hyuk
Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea.
Clinical Counseling Psychology Graduate School, CHA University, Seongnam, South Korea.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Oct 7;12:734488. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.734488. eCollection 2021.
Violent acts in patients with schizophrenia are often associated with their hostility and aggression levels. Poor visuospatial processing has been suggested as a possible risk factor of violence in schizophrenia. However, studies investigating the relationship between hostility, aggression, and the visuospatial function have been lacking. Here, we aimed to investigate brain dysconnectivity associated with hostility and aggression in schizophrenia, particularly focusing on the visuospatial function network. Eighty-eight participants with schizophrenia and 42 healthy controls were enrolled. The visuospatial function network regions of interest were analyzed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics. The hostility item from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), aggressive, and agitated behavior item from the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), and the Rey Complex Figure Test (R-CFT) were measured. Among the participants with schizophrenia, the SAPS aggressive and agitated behavior scores were significantly correlated with fractional anisotropies (FAs) of the white matter regions in the splenium of the corpus callosum (CC), left posterior thalamic radiations (PTR), and left posterior corona radiata (PCR). Exploratory correlational analysis revealed significant negative correlations between FAs of the splenium of the CC and R-CFT copy and immediate recall scores. In addition, three regions including CC, PTR, and PCR that significantly correlated with the aggression scores showed significant correlations with the total PANSS scores. Our main finding suggests that aggression of patients with schizophrenia may be associated with poor visuospatial ability and underlying white matter dysconnectivity. These may help enhance understanding aggression in patients with schizophrenia.
精神分裂症患者的暴力行为通常与其敌意和攻击水平相关。视觉空间处理能力差被认为是精神分裂症患者暴力行为的一个可能风险因素。然而，关于敌意、攻击与视觉空间功能之间关系的研究一直较为缺乏。在此，我们旨在研究精神分裂症患者中与敌意和攻击相关的脑功能连接障碍，尤其关注视觉空间功能网络。我们招募了88名精神分裂症患者和42名健康对照者。使用基于纤维束的空间统计学方法分析视觉空间功能网络感兴趣区域。测量阳性和阴性症状量表（PANSS）中的敌意项目、阳性症状评定量表（SAPS）中的攻击和激越行为项目以及雷-复杂图形测验（R-CFT）。在精神分裂症患者中，SAPS攻击和激越行为得分与胼胝体压部（CC）、左侧丘脑后辐射（PTR）和左侧放射冠后部（PCR）白质区域的各向异性分数（FAs）显著相关。探索性相关分析显示，CC压部的FAs与R-CFT复制和即刻回忆得分之间存在显著负相关。此外，与攻击得分显著相关的CC、PTR和PCR这三个区域与PANSS总分也存在显著相关性。我们的主要发现表明，精神分裂症患者的攻击行为可能与视觉空间能力差及潜在的白质功能连接障碍有关。这些发现可能有助于增进对精神分裂症患者攻击行为的理解。
