Browsing by Author "Bressan, Rodrigo"
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Publication Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men(2023) Zugman, André; Alliende, Luz María; Medel, Vicente; Bethlehem, Richard A.I.; Seidlitz, Jakob; Ringlein, Grace; Arango, Celso; Arnatkevičiūtė, Aurina; Asmal, Laila; Bellgrove, Mark; Benegal, Vivek; Bernardo, Miquel; Billeke, Pablo; Bosch-Bayard, Jorge; Bressan, Rodrigo; Busatto, Geraldo F.; Castro, Mariana N.; Chaim-Avancini, Tiffany; Compte, Albert; Costanzi, Monise; Czepielewsk, Leticia; Dazzan, Paola; Fuente-Sandoval, Camilo de la; Forti, Marta Di; Díaz-Caneja, Covadonga M.; Díaz-Zuluaga, Ana María; Ples, Stefan Du; Duran, Fabio L. S.; Fittipaldi, Sol; Fornito, Alex; Freimer, Nelson B.; Gadelha, Ary; Gama, Clarissa S.; Garani, Ranjini; Garcia-Rizo, Clemente; Gonzalez Campo, Cecilia; Gonzalez-Valderrama, Alfonso; Guinjoan, Salvador; Holla, Bharath; Undurraga, JuanGender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women's worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7,876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women's brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality.Item Effects of socioeconomic status in cognition of people with schizophrenia: results from a Latin American collaboration network with 1175 subjects(2021) Sanguinetti, Letícia; Alliende, Luz Maria; Castañeda, Carmen Paz; Castro, Mariana; Guinjoan, Salvador; Massuda, Raffael; Berberian, Arthur; Fonseca, Ana; Gadelha, Ary; Bressan, Rodrigo; Crivelaro, Marisa; Louzã, Mario; Undurraga, Juan; González, Alfonso; Nacha, Rubén; Nieto, Rodrigo; Montes, Cristian; Silva, Hernán; Langer, Álvaro; Schmidt, Carlos; Mayol, Rocío; Díaz, Ana; Valencia, Johanna; López, Carlos; Solís, Rodolfo; Reyes, Francisco; De la Fuente, Camilo; Crossley, Nicolás; Gama, ClarissaBackground. Cognition heavily relies on social determinants and genetic background. Latin America comprises approximately 8% of the global population and faces unique challenges, many derived from specific demographic and socioeconomic variables, such as violence and inequality. While such factors have been described to influence mental health outcomes, no large-scale studies with Latin American population have been carried out. Therefore, we aim to describe the cognitive performance of a representative sample of Latin American individuals with schizophrenia and its relationship to clinical factors. Additionally, we aim to investigate how socioeconomic status (SES) relates to cognitive performance in patients and controls. Methods. We included 1175 participants from five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico): 864 individuals with schizophrenia and 311 unaffected subjects. All participants were part of projects that included cognitive evaluation with MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and clinical assessments. Results. Patients showed worse cognitive performance than controls across all domains. Age and diagnosis were independent predictors, indicating similar trajectories of cognitive aging for both patients and controls. The SES factors of education, parental education, and income were more related to cognition in patients than in controls. Cognition was also influenced by symptomatology. Conclusions. Patients did not show evidence of accelerated cognitive aging; however, they were most impacted by a lower SES suggestive of deprived environment than controls. These findings highlight the vulnerability of cognitive capacity in individuals with psychosis in face of demographic and socioeconomic factors in low- and middle-income countries.Item Gender, age and geographical representation over the past 50 years of schizophrenia research(2022) Alliende, Luz María; Czepielewski, Leticia; Aceituno, David; Castañeda, Carmen Paz; Diaz, Camila; Iruretagoyena, Bárbara; Mena, Carlos; Mena, Cristian; Ramírez, Juan Pablo; Tepper, Ángeles; Vásquez, Javiera; Fonseca, Lais; Machado, Viviane; Hernández, Camilo; Vargas, Cristian; Gómez, Gladys; Kobayashi, Luis; Moncada, Tomás; Evans, Sara; Bressan, Rodrigo; Gama, Clarissa; López, Carlos; De la Fuente, Camilo; González, Alfonso; Undurraga, Juan; Gadelha, Ary; Crossley, Nicolás; ANDES NetworkPrevious studies have suggested that subjects participating in schizophrenia research are not representative of the demographics of the global population of people with schizophrenia, particularly in terms of gender and geographical location. We here explored if this has evolved throughout the decades, examining changes in geographical location, gender and age of participants in studies of schizophrenia published in the last 50 years. We examined this using a meta-analytical approach on an existing database including over 3,000 studies collated for another project. We found that the proportion of studies and participants from low-and-middle income countries has significantly increased over time, with considerable input from studies from China. However, it is still low when compared to the global population they represent. Women have been historically under-represented in studies, and still are in high-income countries. However, a significantly higher proportion of female participants have been included in studies over time. The age of participants included has not changed significantly over time. Overall, there have been improvements in the geographical and gender representation of people with schizophrenia. However, there is still a long way to go so research can be representative of the global population of people with schizophrenia, particularly in geographical terms.Item Structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia in adverse environments: examining the effect of poverty and violence in six Latin American cities(2021) Crossley, Nicolas; Zugman, Andre; Reyes, Francisco; Czepielewski, Leticia; Castro, Mariana; Diaz, Ana; Pineda, Julian; Reckziegel, Ramiro; Gadelha, Ary; Jackowski, Andrea; Noto, Cristiano; Alliende, Luz; Iruretagoyena, Bárbara; Ossandon, Tomas; Ramírez, Juan; Castañeda, Carmen; González, Alfonso; Nachar, Ruben; León, Pablo; Undurraga, Juan; De la Fuente, Camilo; Bressan, Rodrigo; ANDES NetworkBackground: Social and environmental factors such as poverty or violence modulate the risk and course of schizophrenia. However, how they affect the brain in patients with psychosis remains unclear. Aims: We studied how environmental factors are related to brain structure in patients with schizophrenia and controls in Latin America, where these factors are large and unequally distributed. Method: This is a multicentre study of magnetic resonance imaging in patients with schizophrenia and controls from six Latin American cities. Total and voxel-level grey matter volumes, and their relationship with neighbourhood characteristics such as average income and homicide rates, were analysed with a general linear model. Results: A total of 334 patients with schizophrenia and 262 controls were included. Income was differentially related to total grey matter volume in both groups (P = 0.006). Controls showed a positive correlation between total grey matter volume and income (R = 0.14, P = 0.02). Surprisingly, this relationship was not present in patients with schizophrenia (R = -0.076, P = 0.17). Voxel-level analysis confirmed that this interaction was widespread across the cortex. After adjusting for global brain changes, income was positively related to prefrontal cortex volumes only in controls. Conversely, the hippocampus in patients with schizophrenia, but not in controls, was relatively larger in affluent environments. There was no significant correlation between environmental violence and brain structure. Conclusions: Our results highlight the interplay between environment, particularly poverty, and individual characteristics in psychosis. This is particularly important for harsh environments such as low- and middle-income countries, where potentially less brain vulnerability (less grey matter loss) is sufficient to become unwell in adverse (poor) environments.Publication The enduring gap in educational attainment in schizophrenia according to the past 50 years of published research: a systematic review and meta-analysis(2022) Crossley, Nicolás; Alliende, Luz; Czepielewski, Leticia; Aceituno, David; Castañeda, Carmen; Diaz, Camila; Iruretagoyena, Bárbara; Mena, Carlos; Mena, Cristian; Ramírez, Juan; Tepper, Angeles; Vásquez, Javiera; Fonseca, Lais; Machado, Viviane; Hernández, Camilo; Vargas, Cristian; Gómez, Gladys; Kobayashi, Luis; Moncada, Tomás; Arango, Celso; Barch, Deanna; Carter, Cameron; Correll, Christoph; Freimer, Nelson; McGuire, Philip; Evans, Sara; Undurraga, Eduardo; Bressan, Rodrigo; Gama, Clarissa; López, Carlos; De la Fuente, Camilo; González, Alfonso; Undurraga, Juan; Gadelha, AryBackground: Educational attainment is associated with wellbeing and health, but patients with schizophrenia achieve lower levels of education than people without. Several effective interventions can ameliorate this situation. However, the magnitude of the education gap in schizophrenia and its change over time are unclear. We aimed to reconstruct the trajectories of educational attainment in patients with schizophrenia and, if reported, their healthy comparator controls. Methods: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis including all studies reporting on patients with schizophrenia (of mean age ≥18 years) and describing the number of years of education of the participants, with or without healthy controls. There were no other design constraints on studies. We excluded studies that included only patients with other schizophrenia spectrum disorders and studies that did not specify the number of years of education of the participants. 22 reviewers participated in retrieving data from a search in PubMed and PsycINFO (Jan 1, 1970, to Nov 24, 2020). We estimated the birth date of participants from their mean age and publication date, and meta-analysed these data using random-effects models, focusing on educational attainment, the education gap, and changes over time. The primary outcome was years of education. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020220546). Findings: From 32 593 initial references, we included 3321 studies reporting on 318 632 patients alongside 138 675 healthy controls (170 941 women and 275 821 men from studies describing sex or gender; data on ethnicity were not collected). Patients' educational attainment increased over time, mirroring that of controls. However, patients with schizophrenia in high-income countries had 19 months less education than controls (-1·59 years, 95% CI -1·66 to -1·53; p<0·0001), which is equivalent to a Cohen's d of -0·56 (95% CI -0·58 to -0·54) and implies an odds ratio of 2·58 for not completing 12 years of education (ie, not completing secondary education) for patients compared with controls. This gap remained stable throughout the decades; the rate of change in number of total years of education in time was not significant (annual change: 0·0047 years, 95% CI -0·0005 to 0·0099; p=0·078). For patients in low-income and middle-income countries, the education gap was significantly smaller than in high-income countries (smaller by 0·72 years, 0·85 to 0·59; p<0·0001), yet there was evidence that this gap was widening over the years, approaching that of high-income countries (annual change: -0·024 years, -0·037 to -0·011; p=0·0002). Interpretation: Patients with schizophrenia have faced persistent inequality in educational attainment in the last century, despite advances in psychosocial and pharmacological treatment. Reducing this gap should become a priority to improve their functional outcomes. Funding: Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo (CYTED) to the Latin American Network for the Study of Early Psychosis (ANDES).