Smoking status as a potential confound in the BOLD response of patients with schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) studies comparing schizophrenia patients and controls may have been confounded by the vascular effects of heavier long-term cigarette use in patients.
METHODS: The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to a simple sensorimotor task was compared between schizophrenia patient with a smoking history (mean 17 pack years) and carefully matched patient non-smokers and control non-smokers.
RESULTS: Group differences in activation magnitude and spatial extent were non-significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Typical smoking histories in schizophrenia patients do not significantly confound FMRI results in simple sensorimotor tasks when patient demographics are carefully controlled.