Neuropsychological status of subjects at high risk for a first episode of psychosis

• Published in: Schizophrenia research Vol. 67; no. 2; pp. 115 - 122
• Main Authors: Hawkins, K.A., Addington, J., Keefe, R.S.E., Christensen, B., Perkins, D.O., Zipurksy, R., Woods, S.W., Miller, T.J., Marquez, E., Breier, A., McGlashan, T.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.04.2004; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; At risk states; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Deficit; Female; Humans; Initial prodrome; Intelligence - physiology; Intelligence Tests; Male; Medical sciences; Memory - physiology; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Problem Solving - physiology; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosis; Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology; Psychotic Disorders - physiopathology; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Random Allocation; Risk; Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS); Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Space Perception - physiology; Psychosis; Deficit; Initial prodrome; Schizophrenia; IQ; Cognition; Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS); Neuropsychology; At risk states; Human; High risk; Executive function; Attention; Symptomatology; First episode; Information processing; Intellectual ability; Working memory; Predictive factor; Neuropsychologia; Prepsychotic state; Comparative study; Intelligence quotient
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2003.08.007

Thirty-six subjects aged 16 years or older judged at risk for a first episode of psychosis within a North American multi-site study of the schizophrenia prodrome [McGlashan et al., Schizophr. Res. (2003); Miller et al., Schizophr. Res. (2003)] performed at levels intermediate to population norms and data reported for schizophrenia samples on a comprehensive neuropsychological exam. In the context of normal intelligence, this intermediate status suggests that, as a group, these subjects are not fully normal in neuropsychological functioning. Conversely, the finding that they do not show the levels of impairment commonly observed in schizophrenia, including within the first episode, suggests that prodromal interventions might conceivably prevent, delay, or lessen the severity of declines associated with first psychotic episodes.