Occipital bending in schizophrenia

Jerome J. Maller*, Rodney J. Anderson, Richard H. Thomson, Zafiris J. Daskalakis, Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, Paul B. Fitzgerald

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of occipital bending (an occipital lobe crossing or twisting across the midline) in subjects with schizophrenia and matched healthy controls. Method: Occipital bending prevalence was investigated in 37 patients with schizophrenia and 44 healthy controls. Results: Ratings showed that prevalence was nearly three times higher among schizophrenia patients (13/37 [35.1%]) than in control subjects (6/44 [13.6%]). Furthermore, those with schizophrenia had greater normalized gray matter volume but less white matter volume and had larger brain-to-cranial ratio. Conclusion: The results suggest that occipital bending is more prevalent among schizophrenia patients than healthy subjects and that schizophrenia patients have different gray matter-white matter proportions. Although the cause and clinical ramifications of occipital bending are unclear, the results infer that occipital bending may be a marker of psychiatric illness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)32-41
Number of pages10
JournalAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Volume51
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017
Externally publishedYes

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