title: Neurological soft signs in adolescents with first episode psychosis.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine the decrease of neurological soft signs (NSS) during adolescence and to compare this evolutionary process in two groups of adolescents with first episode psychosis: a) schizophrenia and b) non-schizophrenia patients. The structured neurological evaluation scale (NES) was administered to 24 adolescents with first episode psychosis. The number of NSS, the total and subscales scores were correlated with age in patients and in 39 healthy controls. Adolescents with first-episode psychosis had a higher prevalence of NSS than healthy controls; the schizophrenia patients (N=9) scored higher than non-schizophrenia patients (N=15). The number of NSS, total score and the scores on three of the four NES subscales correlated inversely with age in the healthy control group. No correlation was found for the schizophrenia group. For the non-schizophrenia group, a significant negative correlation was found only in one subscale. The decrease of NSS during adolescence in the healthy population but not in the patient groups with psychosis may be an indicator of a disturbance of brain processes that occurs during development. We did not find a clear pattern of NSS that distinguished schizophrenia from other psychoses.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Adolescentes, Departamento de Psiquiatría, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, C/Ibiza 43, 28009 Madrid, Spain. azabala@mce.hggm.es
authors.forename: Arantzazu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zabala
authors.forename: Olalla
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Robles
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parellada
authors.forename: Dolores Maria
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Sancho
authors.forename: Maite
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burdalo
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: Celso
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arango
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015897:Comorbidity; D018450:Disease Progression; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents