BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic liability, and some structural brain abnormalities are common to both conditions. First-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (FDRs-SZ) show similar brain abnormalities to patients, albeit with smaller effect sizes. Imaging findings in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (FDRs-BD) have been inconsistent in the past, but recent studies report regionally greater volumes compared with control subjects. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of global and subcortical brain measures of 6008 individuals (1228 FDRs-SZ, 852 FDRs-BD, 2246 control subjects, 1016 patients with schizophrenia, 666 patients with bipolar disorder) from 34 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts with standardized methods. Analyses were repeated with a correction for intracranial volume (ICV) and for the presence of any psychopathology in the relatives and control subjects. RESULTS: FDRs-BD had significantly larger ICV (d = 10.16, q , .05 corrected), whereas FDRs-SZ showed smaller thalamic volumes than control subjects (d = 20.12, q , .05 corrected). ICV explained the enlargements in the brain measures in FDRs-BD. In FDRs-SZ, after correction for ICV, total brain, cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, cerebellar gray and white matter, and thalamus volumes were significantly smaller; the cortex was thinner (d , 20.09, q , .05 corrected); and third ventricle was larger (d = 10.15, q , .05 corrected). The findings were not explained by psychopathology in the relatives or control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Despite shared genetic liability, FDRs-SZ and FDRs-BD show a differential pattern of structural brain abnormalities, specifically a divergent effect in ICV. This may imply that the neurodevelopmental trajectories leading to brain anomalies in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are distinct.

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doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.03.985, hdl.handle.net/1765/121148
Biological Psychiatry
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

de Zwarte, S.M.C., Brouwer, RM, Agartz, I., Alda, M, Aleman, A., & Alpert, K.I. (2019). The Association Between Familial Risk and Brain Abnormalities Is Disease Specific: An ENIGMA-Relatives Study of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 86(7), 545–556. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.03.985