Grip strength a potential marker of well-being in early psychosis

Grip strength appears to be a marker of default mode network (DMN) connectivity, which can be a significant marker of overall health in young adults with psychosis, suggests a study.

Eighty-nine individuals with early psychosis and 51 control participants without psychiatric disorders from the Human Connectome Project for Early Psychosis were included in the analysis of resting-state functional MRI and grip strength. The age of participants ranged from 16 to 35 years.

The authors performed multivariate pattern analysis of whole-connectome data to identify brain correlates of grip strength and replicated this analysis using the NIH Toolbox well-being measures and the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF).

Young adults with psychosis showed reduced grip strength, well-being, and GAF scores compared with controls. Grip strength correlated with resting-state connectivity in the sensorimotor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and cerebellum. Furthermore, connectivity was associated with the DMN (rsensorimotor=0.22, rcingulate=0.30, rcerebellum=0.24).

Replicated analysis for GAF and well-being revealed overlapping regions in the sensorimotor cortex and cerebellum that were connected to the DMN and related to GAF (rsensorimotor=0.17, rcerebellum=0.28) and well-being (rsensorimotor=0.16, rcerebellum=0.16).

In addition, “[r]elationships were driven by the psychosis group for cerebellum and cingulate nodes,” the authors said.

"Grip strength is one aspect of psychomotor function that is known to be linked to structural neural integrity and well-being,” they noted.