Clinical, cognitive, and social characteristics of a sample of neuroleptic-naive persons with schizotypal personality disorder.
BACKGROUND
Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) shares with schizophrenia many biological features, yet little is known about the clinical characteristics of persons diagnosed with this disorder. This report describes the clinical, cognitive and socio-occupational characteristics of a community sample of subjects diagnosed with SPD.


METHODS
Sixty-four male and 40 female neuroleptic-naive DSM-IV SPD subjects and 59 male and 51 female comparison subjects were recruited from the community for a total sample of 214 subjects. Demographic and cognitive differences between groups and, within the SPD group, the effect of gender on clinical features, such as the SPD criteria, SAPS, SANS, Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, and co-morbidity, were examined using ANOVA and Chi-square distributions.


RESULTS
SPD subjects, in contrast to comparison subjects, had significantly lower socio-economic status, poorer social relationships and skills, and lower vocabulary scores. Furthermore, SPD subjects demonstrated more impairment on Vocabulary scores than on Block Design, as measured by the WAIS-R, a pattern not seen in comparison subjects. In the SPD cohort, positive symptoms predominated and nearly half were co-morbid for major depression. With respect to gender, male SPD subjects, compared with female SPD subjects, evinced significantly more negative symptoms, fewer friends, had more odd speech, and were more likely to also suffer from paranoid and narcissistic personality disorders. In contrast to male SPD subjects, female SPD subjects perceived themselves to be more disorganized.


CONCLUSIONS
SPD subjects, similar to schizophrenics, are impaired socially, occupationally, and cognitively, particularly in the area of verbal measures. Moreover, male SPD subjects may be more severely affected than female SPD subjects across multiple domains of functioning.
Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Psychiatry 116A, 940 Belmont St., Brockton, MA 02401, USA. chandlee_dickey@hms.harvard.edu
Chandlee C
CC
Dickey
Robert W
RW
McCarley
Margaret A
MA
Niznikiewicz
Martina M
MM
Voglmaier
Larry J
LJ
Seidman
Sunnie
S
Kim
Martha E
ME
Shenton
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011584:Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents