title: Relationship between measures of inhibitory processes in patients with schizophrenia: role of substance abuse disorders.
abstract: Disruption of prepulse inhibition of the startle response (PPI) has been widely identified in patients with schizophrenia, as well as impairment in many domains of cognitive functioning. However, there is some controversy regarding the relationship between PPI and the different neuropsychological tasks assessing inhibition. This controversy may be due to the influence of other variables, such as substance abuse. We aimed to determine whether differences in inhibition in schizophrenia subjects were related to their pattern of substance use and whether there was a correlation between the changes in each process. PPI and neuropsychological functioning were studied in three groups of subjects with schizophrenia (N=73): tobacco dependents (ToD; n=22), multiple substance abusers (MSUD; n=31) and non-substance abusers (non-SUD; n=20). All subjects were assessed using PPI and neuropsychological tests (Stroop and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test [WCST]). ToD showed better pre-attentive inhibitory function compared to the other two groups, and MSUD showed lower resistance to interference. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between PPI, Stroop, and WCST. Our data suggest that there is a relationship between the different tasks assessing inhibition in schizophrenia, being affected by substance abuse history. We also found differences in inhibition capacity depending on substance abuse in patients with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain. rosa.jurado@gmail.com
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jurado-Barba
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morales-Muñoz
authors.forename: Blanca Álvarez
authors.initials: BÁ
authors.lastname: Del Manzano
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fernández-Guinea
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martínez-Gras
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rubio-Valladolid
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult