title: Neuropsychological correlates of P50 sensory gating in patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: Impaired inhibition of P50 cerebral evoked response is one of the best validated endophenotypes in schizophrenia. There are controversial data on the relationship between P50 evoked potential deficit and measures of cognitive function in schizophrenia. A comprehensive clinical and neurocognitive assessment plus an evaluation of P50 sensory gating was performed in 160 schizophrenia patients and 64 controls. Neurocognitive scores from each cognitive domain were converted to demographically-adjusted T-scores (age, gender, and years of education) for all study participants. The relationship between P50 and neurocognitive variables was assessed via parametric and nonparametric correlations and categorical strategies: we compared neuropsychological test scores in patients and controls in the lowest P50 quartile vs. the highest. Controls had better performance than schizophrenia patients in all cognitive domains. Schizophrenia patients had significantly higher P50 ratios than controls, and no significant correlation was found between P50 gating measures and neuropsychological test scores in schizophrenia patients or healthy controls. Moreover, no differences in neurocognitive performance were found between subjects in the lowest P50 ratio quartile vs. the highest in healthy controls or patients with schizophrenia. We concluded that there is no evidence of an association between P50 ratio and cognitive measures in schizophrenia patients, and this seems to be also the case in healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Virgen de la Luz, Cuenca, Spain. emsanchez@sescam.jccm.es
authors.forename: Eva María
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Morla
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aparicio
authors.forename: María Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: García-Jiménez
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Soria
authors.forename: Celso
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arango
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055139:Sensory Gating / Q000502:physiology*