RESUMO
Neuroimaging researchers commonly assume that the brain of a mother is comparable to that of a nulliparous woman. However, pregnancy leads to pronounced gray matter volume reductions in the mother's brain, which have been associated with maternal attachment towards the baby. Beyond two years postpartum, no study has explored whether these brain changes are maintained or instead return to pre-pregnancy levels. The present study tested whether gray matter volume reductions detected in primiparous women are still present six years after parturition. Using data from a unique, prospective neuroimaging study, we compared the gray matter volume of 25 primiparous and 22 nulliparous women across three sessions: before conception (n = 25/22), during the first months of postpartum (n = 25/21), and at six years after parturition (n = 7/5). We found that most of the pregnancy-induced gray matter volume reductions persist six years after parturition (classifying women as having been pregnant or not with 91.67% of total accuracy). We also found that brain changes at six years postpartum are associated with measures of mother-to-infant attachment. These findings open the possibility that pregnancy-induced brain changes are permanent and encourage neuroimaging studies to routinely include pregnancy-related information as a relevant demographic variable.
RESUMO
Los trastornos del espectro de la esquizofrenia incluyen un abanico de disfunciones cognoscitivas y emocionales que abarcan alteraciones en la percepción, del pensamiento inferencial, del lenguaje y la comunicación, del comportamiento, de la afectividad, la fluidez y productividad del pensamiento y el habla, de la capacidad hedónica, de las funciones ejecutivas. Algunos de estos síntomas se solapan con los contemplados en el espectro autista. Establecer el diagnóstico diferencial y/o la comorbilidad puede resultar complicado, especialmente en personas adultas con trastorno del espectro autista con buen funcionamiento en el área intelectual y del lenguaje. En este artículo, presentamos un caso de un paciente de 28 años con una amplia trayectoria psiquiátrica, diagnosticado de trastornos del espectro de la esquizofrenia y sospechas de un posible trastorno del espectro autista que nos permite analizar y revisar el solapamiento y las diferencias entre ambos diagnósticos (AU)
The schizophrenia spectrum disorders include a wide variety of cognitive and emotional dysfunctions. These can cause some alterations in the perception of the inferential thinking, in the language and communication, in the behaviour, in the affectivity, in the thinking and language fluency and production, as well as in hedonic capacity and executive functions. Some of these symptoms overlap those in the autism spectrum. Establishing the differential diagnosis and/or the comorbidity could be really complex, especially among adults, who suffer the autism spectrum disorder but having a good functioning in the intellectual and language area. Through this article, the specific case is presented of a patient aged 28 who suffers a wide trajectory of psychiatric symptoms. He was diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorders and some suspicion of a possible autism spectrum. An analysis and review is presented on the overlapping symptoms and the differences that exist between both diagnoses (AU)
