The relationship between the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised scores and whole-brain structure in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is a standardised battery for assessing memory functions. We aimed to investigate the relationship between all WMS scores, including subtests, and whole-brain structure in a relatively large sample.

Methods: Participants were 93 patients with schizophrenia and 117 healthy individuals, all right-handed and of Japanese ethnicity, and matched for age and sex. Their memory functions were assessed using the WMS-Revised (WMS-R). Their grey and white matter structure was analyzed using voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging.

Results: Verbal memory score correlated positively with volumes of the left parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus, while general memory score correlated positively with volumes of the left parahippocampal and fusiform gyri and hippocampus (p < 0.05, corrected), while there was no correlation with white matter fractional anisotropy values in healthy individuals. No correlation was observed between any WMS-R score and grey or white matter structure in patients.

Conclusions: Using whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging, we found several significant correlations between WMS-R scores and grey matter volume in the brains of healthy individuals, while no correlation was found in those of patients with schizophrenia.

KEYWORDS:

• Healthy individuals
• memory functions
• patients with schizophrenia
• Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised
• whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging

Acknowledgements

S.H. designed, and H.K. supervised the study. S.H., M.O., H.H. T.T., and K.H. determined psychiatric diagnoses and evaluated symptoms using the PANSS. J.M., I.I., and M.H. assessed memory functions using the WMS-R. M.O. collected, and S.H. analyzed MRI data. S.H. performed statistical analyses and wrote the manuscript, which was revised and approved by all authors. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Hiroshi Kunugi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7209-3790

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by an Intramural Research Grant (24-11, H.K.) for Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders at National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry and a Health Labour Sciences Research Grant (201446021A, H.K.) from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare; the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development; an Intramural Research Grant for Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders at National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.