title: Comparison of participants and nonparticipants in a neuroendocrine investigation of psychosis.
abstract: Of all neuroleptic-naive, acutely psychotic subjects admitted to hospital over a 2-year period (n = 62), 27 participated in a neuroendocrine study and 35 did not participate (51% refused consent, 19% were incapable of consent and 31% started neuroleptics immediately). However, all nonparticipants agreed to psychopathological evaluation, thus allowing comparison between participants and nonparticipants. The 2 groups were similar in most respects, except that more nonparticipants were hostile. Among subjects with schizophrenia, 47% of nonparticipants had the paranoid subtype vs 8% of participants. There was also a trend towards longer illness duration in nonparticipants. These results underline the need for neurobiological studies of psychosis to consider sample bias as a confounding variable.
authors.affiliation: National Health and Medical Research Council Schizophrenia Research Unit, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Keks
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Copolov
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mackie
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: McGorry
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coffey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006728:Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012106:Research; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones