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Choice of Comparison Group and Findings of Computerised Tomography in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Geoffrey N. Smith ,
William G. Iacono ,
Margaret Moreau ,
Karen Tallman ,
Morton Beiser  and
Borys Flak
Geoffrey N. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
William G. Iacono*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
Margaret Moreau
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Karen Tallman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Morton Beiser
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
*
∗Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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Abstract

The literature indicates that whether or not schizophrenic patients are reported to have significant lateral ventricular enlargement depends on control, and not schizophrenic-group values. This discrepancy does not result from differences in age, the ratio of males to females, the number of control subjects used in each study, or whether control groups are comprised of normal subjects or medical patients. However, medical-patient controls tend to have smaller ventricles than do normal individuals. Thus, we assessed lateral-and third-ventricle size and the degree of cortical atrophy in 30 normal volunteers, 30 medical patients, and 30 chronic schizophrenic patients. The use of a medical control group seemed to result in underestimates of ventricle and sulcal size in the normal population and, therefore, overestimates of these values in schizophrenic groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 5 , November 1988 , pp. 667 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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