title: Schizophrenia comorbid with panic disorder: evidence for distinct cognitive profiles.
abstract: Patients with comorbid schizophrenia and panic symptoms share a distinct clinical presentation and biological characteristics, prompting some to propose panic psychosis as a separate subtype of schizophrenia. Less is known about these patients' neuropsychological profiles, knowledge of which may facilitate target-specific treatments and research into the etiopathophysiology for such cases. A total of 255 schizophrenia patients with panic disorder (n=39), non-panic anxiety disorder (n=51), or no anxiety disorder (n=165) were assessed with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Trail Making Test, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, the Animal Naming subtest of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. Psychotic symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Patients with panic disorder demonstrated a higher verbal IQ and better problem solving, set switching, delayed recall, attention, and verbal fluency as compared to schizophrenia patients without comorbid anxiety. The schizophrenia-panic group reported a higher level of dysthymia on stable medication. Our findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia and comorbid panic disorder exhibit distinct cognitive functioning when compared to other schizophrenia patients. These data offer further support for a definable panic-psychosis subtype and suggest new etiological pathways for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Erica Kirsten
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Rapp
authors.forename: Mandi Lynn
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: White-Ajmani
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Antonius
authors.forename: Raymond Richard
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Goetz
authors.forename: Jill Martine
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Harkavy-Friedman
authors.forename: Adam Jonathan
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Savitz
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaspina
authors.forename: Jeffrey Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Kahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003071:Cognition; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology