Transdiagnostic types of formal thought disorder and their association with gray matter brain structure: a model-based cluster analytic approach

作者：Frederike Stein, Anna Merle Gudjons, Katharina Brosch, Luca Mira Keunecke, J-K Pfarr, L. Teutenberg, F. Thomas-Odenthal, P. Usemann, Heike Wersching, Adrian Wroblewski, K. Flinkenflügel, Janik Goltermann, Dominik Grotegerd, Susanne Meinert, Katharina Thiel, Anke Winter, Nina Alexander, Tim Hahn, Hamidreza Jamalabadi, Anna Jansen, Axel Krug, Igor Nenadić, Benjamín Straube, Udo Dannlowski, Tilo Kircher · 发表于：Pharmacopsychiatry · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1055/s-0045-1807293 · 研究领域：Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Epilepsy research and treatment、Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

Background: Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a complex syndrome referring to impaired language and thought processes prevalent in psychotic and affective disorders. Clustering (i.e., identification of new data-driven clinical subtypes) approaches have established latent structures in several syndromes. But there is no data yet on FTD clustering across different disorders and particularly not on their brain structural correlates. Therefore, this study aims to identify transdiagnostic subtypes of FTD using a data-driven approach. Methods: In N =1,032 patients meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for Schizophrenia (SZ), Schizoaffective Disorder (SZA), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and Bipolar Disorder (BD), a latent profile analysis (LPA) of FTD was performed using ratings of 15 speech and language symptoms from rater-based scales (SANS, SAPS, YMRS, HAM-D). Identified clusters were compared with regard to FTD symptoms and neurocognitive functioning. We explored associations of FTD clusters with gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical surface using T1-weighted magnet-resonance-imaging data and full factorial models in SPM. Robustness-analyses in an age- and sex-matched subsample with the same n for each diagnosis were applied. Results: LPA revealed 4 transdiagnostic clusters: minimal FTD, poverty, inhibition, severe FTD that remained stable in an age- and sex-matched subsample and in each diagnosis separately. Patients exhibiting severe FTD compared to minimal FTD showed GMV reductions in...