Illness versus substance use effects on the frontal white matter in early phase schizophrenia: A 4Tesla (1)H-MRS study.

Objective: Young adults with early phase schizophrenia often report a past or current pattern of illicit substance use and/or alcohol misuse. Still, little is known about the cumulative and separate effects of each stressor on white matter tissue, at this vulnerable period of brain development.

Methods: Participants involved 24 healthy controls with a past or current history of sustained illicit drug use and/or alcohol misuse (users), 23 healthy controls without such history (normative data), and 27 users with early phase schizophrenia.