Unirhinal olfactory function in schizophrenia patients and first-degree relatives.
Previous studies report birhinal impairments in odor identification in patients with schizophrenia and their family members. The authors employed unirhinal odor identification and detection threshold sensitivity tests in schizophrenia patients, healthy first-degree family members, and healthy comparison subjects. Patients and family members showed deficits in odor identification performance in both nostrils. Odor detection thresholds differed only between patients and healthy comparison subjects. Comparable odor identification deficits in both patients and healthy family members suggest that odor identification measures may serve as a sensitive endophenotypic vulnerability marker and that unirhinal olfactory measures are as precise, if not more so, than birhinal performance measures.
Roalf
David R
DR
Schizophrenia Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Turetsky
Bruce I
BI
Owzar
Kiana
K
Balderston
Catherine C
CC
Johnson
Sarah C
SC
Brensinger
Colleen M
CM
Gur
Raquel E
RE
Siegel
Steven J
SJ
Moberg
Paul J
PJ
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents