Key result
Chinese-speaking schizophrenia patients exhibited reduced left hemisphere lateralization during a category fluency task compared to healthy controls, suggesting the task is a sensitive indicator of frontal-temporal dysfunction.
Why the study?
Most fNIRS schizophrenia studies have used letter fluency tasks, and performances on category and letter fluency tasks may be distinct in Chinese patients due to unique semantic features of Chinese characters.
Does cortical activation during category and letter verbal fluency tasks differ between Chinese-speaking schizophrenia patients and healthy controls?
Case-Control (n=76)
No
Does cortical activation during category and letter verbal fluency tasks differ between Chinese-speaking schizophrenia patients and healthy controls?
p-value: p=<0.05
The Chinese category fluency task may be a more sensitive indicator of frontal-temporal dysfunction in schizophrenia than the letter fluency task, revealing reduced left lateralization.
fNIRS with CFTs may identify schizophrenia biomarkers in Chinese patients; leaves open validation before clinical adoption.
Background: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has many advantages over other neuroimaging modalities for routine measurement of task-dependent cortical activation, but most fNIRS studies of schizophrenia have used letter fluency tasks (LFTs). Further, performances on category fluency tasks (CFTs) and LFTs may be distinct in Chinese patients due to the unique semantic features of Chinese written characters. To identify unique disease biomarkers measurable by fNIRS in Chinese schizophrenia patients, this study compared cortical oxygenated hemoglobin changes ([oxy-Hb]) during a Chinese LFT and CFT between patients and healthy controls. Methods: Inpatients of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University were recruited from Match 2020 to July 2021. The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) was used to evaluate psychiatric symptoms. Dynamic changes in [oxy-Hb], an indicator of neural activity, were measured during CFT and LFT performance by 52-channel fNIRS. Results: Forty-seven schizophrenia inpatients and 29 healthy controls completed all tests. Schizophrenia patients showed significant cortical activation at 15 channels covering the left hemisphere and 17 channels over the right hemisphere during the CFT. During the LFT, activity was significantly increased at only six channels, all over the left hemisphere (FDR P < 0.05). In healthy controls, significant [oxy-Hb] increases were found at 24 channels over the left hemisphere and 19 channels over the right hemisphere during CFT. While during the LFT, the significant increases were found at 7 channels all over the left hemisphere (FDR P < 0.05). When years of education was included as a covariate, the schizophrenia group demonstrated no significant hypoactivation relative to healthy controls at any channel after FDR correction (FDR P < 0.05) during CFT while demonstrated significant hypoactivation at channel 11 during LFT (FDR P < 0.05). There were no significant associations between PANSS scores and [oxy-Hb] changes after FDR correction (FDR P < 0.05). Conclusions: Left lateralization during CFT was reduced among schizophrenia patients and may be related to the semantic deficit. The Chinese-CFT could be a more sensitive indicator of frontal-temporal dysfunction in schizophrenia.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Li et al. (2021) conducted a case-control in Schizophrenia (n=76). Schizophrenia vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Cortical oxygenated hemoglobin changes ([oxy-Hb]) during category and letter verbal fluency tasks (p=<0.05). Chinese-speaking schizophrenia patients exhibited reduced left hemisphere lateralization during a category fluency task compared to healthy controls, suggesting the task is a sensitive indicator of frontal-temporal dysfunction.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: