Hippocampus and amygdala volumes are reduced in patients with schizoaffective disorder.

We aimed to examine the hippocampus and amygdala volumes in patients with schizoaffective disorder with the notion that schizoaffective disorder has strong resemblance of clinical presentation with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and that there have been studies on regions of interest volumes in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but not in patients with schizoaffective disorder. Eighteen patients with schizoaffective disorder and nineteen healthy controls were included into the study. Hippocampus and amygdala volumes were examined by using the MRI. Both hippocampus and amygdala volumes were statistically significantly reduced in patients with schizoaffective disorder compared to those of the healthy control comparisons (p<0.001 for the hippocampus and p<0.001 for the amygdala). In summary, our findings of the present study suggest that patients with schizoaffective disorder seem to have smaller volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala regions and that our results were in accordance with those obtained both in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, considering that schizoaffective disorder might have neuroanatomic similarities with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Beacuse of some limitations aforementioned especially age, it is required to replicate our present results in this patient group.

QT Wave Dispersion in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: A limited number of studies have investigated QT wave dispersion (QTd) in depressive disorder. The objective of this study was to investigate whether QTd differed in patients diagnosed with depression compared to a control group and whether the difference correlated with the depression and anxiety scores. METHODS: Forty patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (DSM-5 criteria) who did not receive their first treatment after the first episode were included in the study. Forty healthy individuals with similar sociodemographic characteristics were included in the control group. A sociodemographic and clinical data form, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory were given to all patients. Electrocardiograms were evaluated in a single-blind setting by the same cardiologist. The longest QT interval (QTmax) and the shortest QT interval (QTmin) were calculated. Heart rate-corrected QTmax (QTcmax) and QTmin (QTcmin) were calculated using the Bazett formula (QT[ms]/√R-R). The difference between QTcmax and QTcmin was accepted as the corrected QT dispersion (QTcd). The study was conducted from December 2018-March 2019. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found between patient and control groups on the basis of age, sex, body mass index, or smoking. Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory scores of the patient group (28.48 ± 12.39 and 32.2 ± 11.58, respectively) were significantly higher compared to the control group (2.7 ± 3.41 and 2.75 ± 3.2, respectively). The patient group QTcmax (419.8 ± 24.46) and QTcd (42.55 ± 17.47) values were significantly higher compared to the QTcmax (405.2 ± 24.54) and QTcd (30.48 ± 9.25) values of the control group. There was a positive correlation between QTcd, QTcmax, and anxiety and depression scores. CONCLUSIONS: QTcd values of depressed patients were higher than those of the healthy controls, and there was a positive correlation between QTcd and depression and anxiety scores.