ArticleBMC psychiatry2026
Associations among homocysteine, left cortical thickness, and working memory in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia: preliminary findings of a cohort study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTreatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) is characterized by severe cognitive impairments. However, the underlying mechanisms driving these deficits and strategies to mitigate them remain unclear. Elevated homocysteine levels have also been implicated in disease progression. We aimed to explore the relationship among serum homocysteine levels, working memory, and cortical thickness in patients with TRS.
methodsEighty-five patients with schizophrenia (42 with TRS and 43 with non-TRS [NTRS]) and 58 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Serum homocysteine levels were measured using enzymatic cycling. Cortical thickness was assessed using FreeSurfer version 5.3. Mediation analysis was further performed to preliminarily explore the potential interplay among serum homocysteine levels, regional cortical thickness, and working memory performance. Given that the bivariate correlations between homocysteine levels and cortical thickness did not retain significance after false discovery rate (FDR) correction and the cross-sectional design, this analysis aimed to identify potential mediating or suppressive pathways for hypothesis-generating purposes, rather than verifying definite compensatory mechanisms.
resultsWorking memory was significantly impaired in patients with TRS and NTRS compared with HCs. Homocysteine levels were elevated in patients with schizophrenia, particularly in the TRS group. Among individuals with TRS, an inverse relationship was observed between serum homocysteine concentration and working memory (r = - 0.411, p
conclusionsOur exploratory findings preliminarily indicate that greater cortical thickness within left-hemispheric brain regions may show statistical links to homocysteine-associated working memory deficits in patients with TRS, rather than definitive evidence of partial compensatory mechanisms. Notably, given the cross-sectional study design and non-significant bivariate correlations observed between homocysteine levels and cortical thickness following FDR correction, these results are strictly hypothesis-generating and cannot support causal inferences. The mediation-suppression analysis, performed despite non-significant FDR-adjusted pairwise associations, offers tentative clues regarding potential neural correlation patterns. Further longitudinal or interventional studies are required to validate these preliminary observations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.