title: Brief PANSS to assess and monitor the overall severity of schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to develop a subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) that would be brief and sensitive to changes in the clinical features of schizophrenia (i.e. the Brief PANSS, or bPANSS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The PANSS before and after treatment, and the Clinical Global Impression-Change (CGI-C) was rated for 714 schizophrenia patients. Of these, Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) was also evaluated in 30 of these patients. The bPANSS items were extracted from full PANSS items based on the following aims: (i) to develop a brief scale; (ii) to develop a scale sensitive to changes resulting from antipsychotic treatment; and (iii) to reflect the broad spectrum of schizophrenia symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The following six items were extracted to serve as the bPANSS: delusion, suspiciousness, emotional withdrawal, passive/apathetic social withdrawal, tension, and unusual thought content. The coefficients of correlation between the bPANSS and full PANSS before and after treatment were 0.86 and 0.92, respectively (both P < 0.001). The coefficient of correlation between the degrees of change in the scores for the bPANSS and the full PANSS was 0.93 (P < 0.001), and that between delta bPANSS and CGI-C was 0.73 (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  bPANSS is able to capture the overall clinical features of schizophrenia within a short assessment period.
authors.affiliation: Seiwa Hospital, Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo, Japan. ravonal@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nobutomo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inada
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimodera
authors.forename: Ippei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morokuma
authors.forename: Toshiaki A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents