Associations of Inflammatory Biomarkers with Brain Atrophy and Clinical Scores in Schizophrenia Patients with Autistic Features

Objectives : This study explored the schizophrenia (SCZ) patients with autistic traits by analyzing inflammatory biomarkers and brain atrophy (BA). Methods : The statistical analysis included 58 males and 55 females. All the subjects underwent computed tomography (CT) and laboratory analysis. SCZ symptom was assessed via the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The PANSS Autism Severity Score (PAUSS) was used to assess autistic traits, with a threshold of 30 to identify relevant characteristics. Results : Multiple regression analysis revealed significant associations between positive scores and lymphocyte count (LYM) ,platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) , and the minimum width of the anterior horn of the lateral ventricle (WMIN-AH-LV) ( P <0.05). Negative symptom scores were positively correlated with the NLR, transverse diameter of the bilateral caudate nucleus (TD-B-CN) , and third ventricle width(TVW) ( P <0.05). As the WMIN-AH-LV ( P =0.001) increased, the general psychopathological symptom score increased. As the ventricular central indices, the WMIN-AH-LV increased, the total score increased ( P <0.05) . As the NLR, TD-B-CN, WMIN-AH-LV, TVW and the Evans index increased, the PAUSS increased ( P <0.05). Conclusion: Inflammatory biomarker and BA correlate positively with PANSS or PAUSS in SCZ with autistic features. These easily obtainable parameters help clinicians better understand this subgroup in a more objective way.