engleski

Sex specific differences in the middle cerebral artery blood flow in the first episode of psychosis during neurocognitive testing

Objectives: To explore the influence of sex on the change of cerebral blood flow velocity (BFV) between resting state and during neurocognitive testing in patients with the first episode psychosis (FEP) compared to healthy controls. Background and Aims: Women and men diagnosed with schizophrenia differ and substantial sex-based differences have been observed. Patients suffering from schizophrenia have different intracranial hemodynamics compared to the health population. We aimed to explore association between sex and BFV in patients with FEP compared to healthy controls. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 46 patients with the FEP admitted at the Department of psychiatry, Zagreb University Hospital Centre, Croatia, during 2016-2017 and 41 healthy controls. The primary outcome was BFV in the middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) measured by Transcranial Doppler Ultrrasonograhy (TCD) in resting state and during the neurocognitive testing. Results and Conclusions: During neurocognitive testing, BFV in both MCAs increases in healthy control and decreases in FEP patients (p<0.001). We observed the significantly different patterns of BFV change between female and male patients with FEP and healthy controls, in both MCAs. In healthy control group increase of BFV during testing was higher in women than in men while in FEP both genders experienced the similar decrease of BFV. MCA blood flow during the execution of several neurocognitive tests follows a sex specific fashion in patients with the first episode of psychosis compared to controls, possibly reflecting sex-based differences underlying psychotic processes.

sex ; cerebral blood flow velocity ; transcranial doppler ; neurocognitive ; first-episode psychosis

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