Anti-psychotic drugs can lead to shrinkage of brain, a new research reveals.
Researchers at University of Cambridge found that schizophrenic patients who are prescribed antipsychotic drugs experience measurable decreases in brain volume.
Brain scans of 33 patients with schizophrenia were compared with 71 healthy control participants for 9 years. The study analysis showed that schizophrenia patients lost brain volume at a rate of 0.7 percent every year. The brain volume of those in control group shrunk at a rate of 0.5 percent per year.
According to the researchers, the shrinking of brain volume is a natural process and is known as atrophy. It mostly begins at the age of 30.
Past researches have shown that people with schizophrenia lose brain volume at a faster rate than healthier ones. However, none established a clear cause behind this.
The researchers of this study explain that antipsychotic medication might be subtly acting in shrinkage of the brain in schizophrenic patients. The team explained that the rate of decrease in volume was greater when the dose of medication was higher.
"We all lose some brain tissue as we get older, but people with schizophrenia lose it at a faster rate. We've shown that this loss seems to be linked to the antipsychotic medication people are taking. Research like this where patients are studied for many years can help to develop guidelines about when clinicians can reduce the dosage of antipsychotic medication in the long term treatment of people with schizophrenia," researcher Professor Juha Veijola from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oulu in Finland, said in a press release.
Dr Graham Murray from the Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at University of Cambridge said that the decrease in volume of the brain does not seem to affect the people and that the results of the study should not deter them from taking the medications.
"A key question in future will be to examine whether there is any effect of this loss of brain volume later in life. We need more research in larger studies with longer follow-ups to evaluate the significance of these brain changes," Dr Murray said.
The study findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
