Relationships of age at onset with clinical features and cognitive functions in a sample of schizophrenia patients.
BACKGROUND
A number of studies investigated the relationships of age at onset with clinical presentation and cognitive performance of schizophrenic patients. The aim of the present study was to assess demographic and clinical characteristics; psychopathologic, social functioning, and quality-of-life ratings; and neuropsychological measures in a sample of patients with stabilized schizophrenia and to identify which factors independently contributed to a multiple regression model with age at onset as the dependent variable.


METHODS
Ninety-six consecutive outpatients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV-TR criteria) were included in the study. Assessment instruments were as follows: a semistructured interview, the Clinical Global Impressions scale, the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for psycho-pathology of schizophrenia; the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) for depression; the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale and the Sheehan Disability Scale for social functioning; the Quality of Life Scale; and a neuro-psychological battery including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Continuous Performance Test. Two models of multiple regression were tested: the first included clinical features and psychopathologic, social functioning, and quality-of-life scales; the second also considered neuro-psychological variables. Data were collected from October 2001 to November 2002.


RESULTS
The first multiple regression showed that age at onset was significantly related to scores on the PANSS subscale for negative symptoms (p =.042) and the CDSS (p =.041); the second regression found a relation of age at onset with PANSS score for negative symptoms (p =.002) and 2 neuropsychological measures, number of preservative errors on the WCST and Continuous Performance Test reaction time (p =.0005 for both).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that, when results of neuropsychological tests are considered, early age at onset of schizophrenia is associated with severity of negative symptoms and compromised cognitive measures of executive functioning and sustained attention.
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. silvio.bellino@unito.it
Silvio
S
Bellino
Paola
P
Rocca
Luca
L
Patria
Livio
L
Marchiaro
Roberta
R
Rasetti
Rossella
R
Di Lorenzo
Erika
E
Paradiso
Filippo
F
Bogetto
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012917:Social Adjustment