Brains in Transition (BrIT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Linear and non-linear brain changes over the transition to psychosis: the BrIT study.
IRAS ID
132027
Contact name
Stephen Wood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Research summary
In the past decade there has been great interest in studying young people at risk for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. These people are at increased risk because of a combination of symptoms and personal or family history. Around 20% develop psychosis within 12 months of being identified. There are differences in the brains of ‘at-risk’ cases when compared to similar participants not at risk. These brain differences get greater with the onset of psychotic illness. It is uncertain when in the progression these changes occur. The changes may come before (and somehow cause) the increase in symptoms, implying that trying to prevent those brain changes could prevent the illness.
This study aims to find out the exact timing of these brain changes. We will do this by recruiting a sample of young people at increased risk of psychosis, and scanning their brains every month or so for a year. By comparing the trajectory of brain changes between those who do and those who do not develop psychosis, we hope to determine the relationship between progression of symptoms and alterations in brain structure. We aim to show that the rate of change varies across this period and that alterations happen much faster during the period of transition from being ’at-risk’ to having a first psychotic episode.
Researchers have found it problematic to predict who eventually develops psychosis. There are currently a high number of individuals who are potentially exposed to unnecessary treatment and stigma. A recent approach adopted from dementia research has used brain scans in complex statistical analyses to improve prediction of psychosis from around 20% to 80%. However, this has only used a single time point. In this study we will explore what additional predictive power can be obtained from including longitudinal scans.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/WM/0399
Date of REC Opinion
13 Nov 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion