Cohort study shows schizophrenia patients and siblings differ in gray matter volume compared to healthy controls.

This cohort study investigated gray matter volume (GMV) patterns in a population comprising 31 schizophrenia patients, 62 healthy siblings of schizophrenia patients, and 31 healthy controls. The intervention or exposure was age stratification, dividing siblings into an age-sensitive window [18–35 years] and a post-age-sensitive window [36–45 years], compared against non-stratified healthy controls and sibling subgroups. The primary outcome measured was GMV patterns across specific brain regions.

One-way ANOVA analysis revealed significant main effects of group on GMV in brain regions including the caudate nucleus, pallidum, insula, parahippocampal gyrus, and precuneus. The effect size for these group differences ranged from F = 1.28–1.96. All p-values were less than 0.05, though exact p-values were not reported in the text provided. Post-hoc age comparison indicated that post-age-sensitive window siblings were significantly older than both schizophrenia patients and healthy controls (p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding demographic characteristics (all p > 0.05).

Safety and tolerability data, including adverse events, serious adverse events, discontinuations, and overall tolerability, were not reported. A key limitation of this study is that patients and healthy controls were not further stratified by age. Additionally, the study phase and publication type were not reported. Given the observational cohort design and lack of age stratification in the control groups, the findings describe associations rather than causality. Further research is needed to clarify the role of age in these structural differences.