Disease Progression Patterns and Their Relationship with Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia Through Subtype Analysis

Motivation: Cognitive dysfunction significantly impacts outcomes in schizophrenia, the relationship between brain structural changes and specific cognitive domains remains unclear. Understanding these relationships could provide objective biomarkers for disease progression. Goal(s): To identify associations between brain structural changes and cognitive domains in schizophrenia and investigate distinct patterns of disease progression using neuroimaging. Approach: Surface-based morphometry was performed on MRI data from schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Disease progression patterns were analyzed using the SuStaIn algorithm. Results: Specific brain regions correlated with distinct cognitive domains. Two progression patterns were identified: one showing widespread cortical changes and another initiating in basal ganglia, representing different disease stages. Impact: The identification of stage-specific brain changes and their relationship to cognitive function provides a framework for objective disease monitoring and suggests potential targets for stage-specific therapeutic interventions in schizophrenia.