Presence of co-morbid substance use disorder in bipolar patients worsens their social functioning to the level observed in patients with schizophrenia

Bipolar disorder has been considered to have a better prognosis than schizophrenia at the very beginning of its definition. However, psychosocial functioning may vary not only because of the characteristics of the disorder, but also of co-morbid conditions, especially regarding substance use disorder (SUD). The purpose of this study was to compare the social adjustment level of patients with bipolar disorder with that observed in patients with schizophrenia, taking into account substance use disorder (SUD). Forty subjects with schizophrenia and 40 subjects with bipolar disorder, in the stable phase of the disorder, were matched for age, gender and presence of SUD (DSM-IV criteria). The social adjustment scale was completed with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of illness. The global adaptation score of bipolar patients with SUD was poorer than bipolar patients without SUD, but was not observed as being significantly different from that of patients with schizophrenia, with or without associated SUD. Suicide attempts, poor compliance, longer hospitalisation, shorter remissions and criminal activity were also more frequently observed in the group of patients with bipolar disorder and SUD. Presence of substance use disorder seems to have a greater weight than the main diagnostic (schizophrenia versus bipolar disorder) to predict worse social adjustment and poorer outcome.     

Neurocognitive functioning in patients with first-episode schizophrenia

To assess the course of neuropsychological (NP) impairment in schizophrenia, 71 patients with first episode (FE) schizophrenia and 71 healthy controls were given a comprehensive battery of NP tests at index assessment, after a 2-year and after a 5-year follow-up period. By means of the z-score standardization, summary scores for verbal intelligence (VBI), spatial organisation (SPT), verbal fluency (VBF), Verbal learning (VBL), semantic memory (SEM), visual memory (VIM), delay/retention rate (DEL), short-term memory (STM), visuomotor processing and attention (VSM) and abstraction/flexibility (ABS) were constructed. FE schizophrenia patients showed a worse performance compared to controls in all areas investigated, most pronounced in VSM, SEM and VBL. In the majority of cognitive domains, an improvement was found over the 5-year follow-up period without differences between the two groups. However, in VBF patients slightly deteriorated whilst controls improved and in memory functions patients improved less compared to controls. When controlling for relevant confounders, neither conventional nor atypical neuroleptics showed a deleterious influence on NP performance, except on VBF. Our data suggest that NP impairment is already present at the onset of the illness and remains stable over the early course of schizophrenia.     

Program to improve cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia: reflections

Cognitive dysfunction in patients who suffer from schizophrenia is a major clinical problem. For such patients, the neurobiological cause(s) for the cognition deficits are not clear. Treatments with high doses of compounds that work at the coagonist site of the NMDA receptor have demonstrated that some degree of improvement can be elicited in patients. Thus, the NIMH effort to delineate the clinical responses that would allow new drugs to be registered for this use is very timely. Significant credit is due Dr. Steven Hyman and his colleagues for stimulating this bold initiative. Many problems remain to be solved to accomplish the goal. This article articulates a few such problems.     

Gray matter morphology and the level of functioning in one-year follow-up of first-episode schizophrenia patients

Schizophrenia is a condition with a highly variable course that is hard to predict. The aim of the present study was to investigate if local gray matter volume (GMV) can differentiate poor (PF) and good (GF) functioning patients using voxel-wise analysis in a group of first-episode schizophrenia subjects (FES).     

精神分裂症患者认知功能与社会功能的相关性

目的探讨精神分裂症恢复期患者认知功能对社会功能的影响。方法对80例精神分裂症恢复期患者采用瑞文标准测验（CRT）、韦氏成人智力量表（WAIS）、威斯康星卡片测验（WCST）,分别与社会功能缺陷量表（SDSS）进行多重线性回归分析。结果经逐步回归分析显示,WCST中变量（正确反应数、持续错误数、分类数）、WAIS中言语量表分、CRT中瑞文总分进入回归方程,拟合的回归方程均有统计学意义。其中瑞文总分、言语量表分与SDSS呈线性负相关关系,持续错误数与SDSS呈线性正相关关系;比较WCST、CRT、WAIS与SDSS的相关性,回归模型的拟合最好的为WCST。结论精神分裂症患者的认知功能与社会功能有显著相关性,正确的评测及改善认知功能对提高患者的社会功能有重要意义,WCST提供了一个有效预测精神分裂症患者社会功能的重要方法。     

Social functioning of patients with schizophrenia in high-income welfare societies

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed the level of reintegration into the community of patients with schizophrenia in Oslo, Norway, a country with a well-developed social welfare system and low unemployment rates. METHODS: Eighty-one patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia treated in 1980 and in 1983 in a short-term ward of a psychiatric hospital were followed up after seven years. Seventy-four of 76 patients alive at follow-up agreed to participate. Social functioning was measured by the Strauss-Carpenter Level of Functioning Scale and the Social Adjustment Scale. RESULTS: At follow-up 78 percent of patients lived independently, 47 percent were socially isolated, and 94 percent were unemployed. Thirty-four percent had lost employment in the follow-up period. A poor outcome in terms of social functioning and community reintegration was associated with loss of employment. A good outcome was predicted by short periods of inpatient hospitalization, high levels of education, being married, male gender, and not having a late onset of psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: The level of homelessness among these patients with schizophrenia was encouragingly low, which may have been expected in a high-income welfare society. However, insufficient efforts were aimed at social and instrumental rehabilitation, and the level of unemployment was alarmingly high.     

Neuropsychologic functioning and structural MRI of the brain in patients with schizophrenia

The first episode of schizophrenia represents a transition from a premorbid to a morbid state. Studying the first episode of schizophrenia is useful since it is devoid of the confounds of chronicity and long-term medication. It is also likely to direct us to the core deficits of the illness. Studies on first-episode schizophrenia suggest a generalized neuropsychologic impairment, but that memory, attention and executive function are more severely impaired. Support for a neurodevelopmental model of neuropsychologic impairment in schizophrenia is derived from the findings that much of the neuropsychologic impairment is present by illness onset, that neuropsychologic impairment remains stable over time and that there is a weak relation between duration of untreated psychosis and neuropsychologic impairment. However, neuropsychologic impairment is moderated by neuroleptic treatment, with some evidence that atypical antipsychotics may have some beneficial effects over conventional antipsychotics. The causal mechanisms of brain abnormality in the temporal and frontal lobes appear to be different to that of neuropsychologic impairment in schizophrenia. The observation that there is a brain volume decrement over time and that the rate of change is higher during the first 5 years would be consistent with a neurodegenerative model of schizophrenia. At the same time, the basal ganglia are vulnerable to volumetric increase secondary to neuroleptic medication. Understanding the roles of the neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative models of schizophrenia is important in deciding intervention strategies.     

精神分裂症患者综合职业技能相关因素的横断面评估(英文)

背景国外一些研究显示职业技能训练能提高精神分裂症患者的社会功能,改善生活质量。国内对精神分裂症患者职业技能与功能状态关系的研究相对较少。目的以综合职业技能评定量表(Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Evaluation Scale,COTE)评估住院以及刚出院的精神分裂症患者的职业功能,评价患者综合职业技能与人口学特征、临床症状及认知功能的关系。方法由经过培训的临床医生对64例精神分裂症患者(35例住院患者、29刚出院的门诊患者)进行评估,评估工具包括COTE,阳性和阴性症状量表(Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale,PANSS)以及包括威斯康星卡片分类测验(Wisconsin Card Sorting Test,WCST)、注意力持续操作测验(Continuous Perfomance Test,CPT),成人韦氏智力测验(Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale,WAIS)中的数字符号项目,连线测验A和连线测验B在内的成套神经心理测验。结果患者的COTE 总分及一般行为、人际交往和任务行为3个维度的因子分与PANSS总分及其阳性症状分、阴性症状分和一般病理分均相关(秩相关系数范围为0.40~0.90)。COTE各指标与PANSS阴性症状分的相关性比其与PANSS阳性症状分的相关性强。COTE评分也与CPT的评分相关,并与WAIS中的数字符号项目得分,和WCST的部分项目结果相关。逐步回归分析显示,反映患者职业技能的4个COTE指标主要与PANSS总分或阴性症状分相关,其次与完成连线测验B所用时间、CPT漏报次数以及患者的受教育程度相关。结论住院及刚出院精神分裂症患者的职业技能与其精神症状的严重程度密切相关,也与患者的认知功能和受教育年限有一定关系。     

Neuropsychological functioning in elderly patients with schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease

Cognitive functioning was compared in elderly patients with schizophrenia, elderly patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), and matched healthy controls using a brief neuropsychological battery. Both schizophrenia and AD patients demonstrated marked impairment as compared to controls, with the profile of neuropsychological deficits in both disorders appearing remarkably similar. Only visual confrontation naming, verbal delayed recall, and rate of forgetting (i.e. savings score) significantly differentiated between the two patient groups, with AD patients showing poorer overall recall and more rapid forgetting of verbal information over delay. In addition, schizophrenia subjects showed a significantly greater deficit in visual confrontation naming than the AD group. The relationship of neuropsychological function and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia subjects was also examined. Results showed that word list learning, delayed recall, and rate of forgetting correlated most strongly with positive and negative symptoms. Recent neuropathological studies have indicated abnormalities in specific subfields of the hippocampal formation in schizophrenia that are also severely affected in AD. Though the specific histopathology of the two disorders differs, abnormalities in the common sites may underlie the common neuropsychological profile.     

精神分裂症患者共情能力与社会功能

目的：比较稳定期精神分裂症患者与正常对照者的共情能力,探讨患者共情能力与社会功能的关系。方法：采用人际反应指针量表（IRI-C）对103例稳定期精神分裂症患者（患者组）和88名正常对照者（对照组）进行评估,比较二者的共情能力;同时采用社会功能缺陷筛选量表（SDSS）、个体和社会功能量表（PSP）及阳性与阴性症状量表（PANSS）对患者组进行评估。结果：患者组IRI-C共情性关心分及共情总分平均为（14.7±4.0）分和（44.2±11.3）分,均较对照组的（16.0±4.5）分和（46.3±11.9）分显著为低（P〈0.01或P〈0.05）。控制年龄、症状后的IRI-C与SDSS偏相关分析显示,患者组IRI-C共情性关心分与SDSS中社会性退缩分（r=-0.421,P〈0.01）、责任心和计划性分（r=-0.344,P〈0.05）及总分（r=-0.335,P〈0.05）分别呈负相关。控制症状后的IRI-C与PSP偏相关分析显示,患者组IRI-C观点采摘分（r=0.288,P〈0.01）、共情性关心分（r=0.301,P〈0.01）及IRI-C总分（r=0.268,P〈0.01）与PSP总分均呈正相关。结论：精神分裂症患者存在共情能力障碍,其共情能力与其社会功能存在正相关。     

Sex differences in illness presentation, course, and level of functioning in substance-abusing schizophrenia patients

Studies of gender differences in schizophrenia have concluded that women experience a more benign form of the illness than men as evidenced by later age of illness onset, less debilitating psychiatric symptomatology, fewer psychiatric hospitalizations, and better premorbid and overall functioning. Little research, however, has focused on documenting the potential negative impact of substance use on these clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate gender differences in the effects of substance use on the course and presentation of schizophrenia. Two groups of schizophrenia outpatients were evaluated: 34 with substance-use disorders and 33 with no history of substance-use disorders. Sex comparisons were conducted on rates of current psychiatric symptoms, age of onset, number of previous hospitalizations and ratings of general level of functioning. The results suggest that the more benign course and presentation of illness ordinarily seen in women with schizophrenia become muted when they use substances. The data further suggest that women may be especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of substance use. Collectively, these findings highlight the need for additional research and the development of more effective treatment interventions for this population of women.     

Measuring aggression in older adults: a latent variable modeling approach

This cross-sectional measurement study demonstrates a technique for combining information from several aggression scales into one aggression score using latent variable modeling. Participants included male patients (n = 49) with a DSM-IV diagnosis of dementia at The Veterans Affairs Medical Center Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic. Data from seven aggression scales were used to indicate the latent aggression variable. Results provided evidence that a unidimensional latent variable model of aggression adequately represented the data. Reliability of the aggression latent variable was estimated as 0.90, whereas reliability of the separate scales estimated with this sample were less than 0.84. Our findings suggest that combining multiple scales into one aggression score using latent variable modeling results in comprehensive and reliable aggression scores that offer researchers several advantages over current methods for measuring aggression.     

Impairments in executive functioning in patients with remitted and non-remitted schizophrenia

Objective

Although deficits in executive functioning are prominent in schizophrenia, some patients in remission have shown significantly higher levels of neurocognitive functioning than patients not in remission. However, no consensus on the relationship between neurocognitive functioning and the severity of symptoms has been reached. Additionally, previous studies have mainly examined the primary symptom domains of schizophrenia without considering the influence of anxiety symptoms, which are likely to influence neuropsychological performance. The aim of the present study was to compare the executive functioning of normal controls and with that of patients with schizophrenia in acute and remitted states. We further examined associations between impaired executive functioning in patients and anxiety levels.

Methods

Using a battery of tests assessing executive functioning including subtests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Test Battery (CANTAB) and the short form of the Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (K-WAIS), we assessed 54 patients with schizophrenia and 33 normal controls.

Results

Our results showed that patients with non-remitted schizophrenia obtained significantly lower estimated IQ scores than did normal controls. They also exhibited longer reaction times on the Choice Reaction Time (CRT) test and the Stop Signal Test (SST) subtests of CANTAB and a greater number of total errors and errors that occurred before the extradimensional stage (i.e., pre-ED errors) on the Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift (IED) subtest of CANTAB. Furthermore, those with schizophrenia in acute states showed significantly slower stop signal reaction times (SSRT) on the SST than did those with remitted schizophrenia and healthy controls. Finally, differences in the pre-ED errors and total adjusted errors on the IED became insignificant when scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were entered as the covariate, whereas other significant differences remained when these scores were entered.

Conclusion

Differences in executive functioning exist between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls; these differences can be largely attributed to the relatively poor performance of patients in an active state.     

Emotion processing and its relationship to social functioning in schizophrenia patients

Schizophrenia patients have demonstrated deficits in affect recognition. Whether this deficit is part of a general difficulty in face perception or a specific problem in affect recognition is debatable. However, there is little research investigating the functional consequences of difficulties in identifying emotion in schizophrenia patients. We tested 20 chronic, medicated schizophrenia patients and 27 normal control participants on a battery of face recognition and affect recognition tasks. A subset of 14 patients was rated on the Social Dysfunction Index. Results demonstrated that schizophrenia patients were less accurate than normal control participants on face recognition, facial affect recognition and vocal affect recognition tasks, but among schizophrenia patients, only affect recognition performance was related to social functioning. These results suggest that schizophrenia patients have general face processing deficits, but affect recognition deficits may lead to more problems in social behavior.     

Gender differences of neurocognitive functioning in patients with first-episode schizophrenia in China

AimsTo investigate the gender differences in neurocognitive functioning in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) in China.MethodsA total of 449 Chinese patients with FES (210 males, 239 females) were included in this study. Participants’ psychopathology was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Neurocognitive functioning was assessed by 10 neuropsychological tests from a battery. Neurocognitive test scores were converted to scale scores and t-scores using normative data from Chinese populations.ResultsMales were younger and less likely to be married, had an earlier age of illness onset and a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), and scored higher on the PANSS negative, general and total scales than females. After controlling for potential confounders, females performed better than males in the verbal learning and memory domain (p=0.016). While most neurocognitive domains were correlated with PANSS negative scores for male patients with FES, for female patients with FES, negative associations were found between scores on the PANSS general subscales and neurocognitive domains. We also performed a case-control comparison with a group of patients with clinically stable schizophrenia (CSS) (n = 60) who were matched by age, sex and education years with patients with FES (n = 58). After controlling for potential confounders, no significant differences were found between patients with FES and patients with CSS in all neurocognitive domains. Female patients still performed better in the verbal learning and memory domain (t = 2.14, p = 0.034). No interaction effects of gender and disease were found.ConclusionsGender was an independent influence factor for the verbal learning and memory domain. Both female patients with first-episode schizophrenia and female patients with clinically stable schizophrenia performed better than male patients.     

Mismatch negativity deficits are associated with poor functioning in schizophrenia patients

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia patients exhibit widespread deficits in many domains, ranging from abnormalities in preattentional sensory processing to gross impairments in everyday functioning. Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential measure that occurs in the absence of directed attention. While many studies have reported MMN deficits in schizophrenia patients, little is known about the functional significance of MMN deficits in schizophrenia patients. OBJECTIVE: To determine if a schizophrenia-linked deficit in MMN, an "automatic" preattentional measure, is associated with impairments in everyday functional status, level of independence in living situation, and the ability to perform tasks routinely encountered in everyday situations. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia recruited from inpatient and outpatient community facilities affiliated with the University of California, San Diego, and 25 healthy, nonpsychiatric, comparison subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mismatch negativity, clinical symptoms, performance on a multidimensional laboratory-based functional skills assessment battery, clinician ratings on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale, and level of independence in community living situation. RESULTS: Schizophrenia patients had significantly reduced MMN (P<.001). Greater levels of MMN impairment were associated with lower Global Assessment of Functioning Scale ratings. Consistent with clinical ratings, patients with greater MMN impairments were more likely to live in highly structured vs independent settings. A regional analysis of MMN revealed that the largest correlations of MMN to everyday functioning were present at frontocentral recording sites (eg, r(s) = -0.65). In contrast, MMN deficits were not associated with symptom severity or performance on laboratory-based tasks measuring skills that are often considered necessary for independent living. CONCLUSIONS: This pattern of results suggests that MMN deficits represent a core neurophysiological dysfunction that is linked to global impairments in everyday functioning in schizophrenia patients. These deficits in automatic preattentive information processing account for up to 42% of the variance in global functional status in schizophrenia patients. Thus, basic preattentional cognitive deficits may be excellent measures for predicting functional outcome. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the relationships between deficits in automatic sensory information processing, associated neural substrate dysfunctions, and deficits in everyday functioning across the course of the illness.     

精神分裂症患者与健康同胞及正常人群认知功能的比较

目的:探讨精神分裂症患者与健康同胞及正常对照人群认知功能的特点。方法:采用数字划消测验(CT)、修订韦氏成人记忆量表(WMS-RC)、威斯康星卡片分类测验(WCST)对35例精神分裂症患者(患者组)、35例患者健康同胞(同胞组)及30例健康对照组(对照组)的认知功能进行测验。结果:患者组与同胞组记忆商数差异无统计学意义(P0.05);而与对照组记忆商数差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。在划消测验上患者组和同胞组指向与转移因子间差异有统计学意义(P0.05),而选择因子差异无统计学意义(P0.05);患者组和对照组在指向、转移与选择3个因子差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。在WCST上患者组和同胞组持续时间数和持续错误数差异无统计学意义(P0.05),而分类完成数和总测验次数差异有统计学意义(P0.01);患者组与对照组比较,持续时间数、持续错误、分类完成数、总测验次数均差异有统计学意义(P0.01)。结论:精神分裂症患者及其健康同胞存在注意、记忆、执行功能方面的损害。