title: Correlates of insight with symptomatology and executive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: a longitudinal perspective.
abstract: The present study aimed to examine the relationships of insight with symptomatology and executive function, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Ninety-two medication-naïve patients were recruited and 71 completed the assessments. Insight, symptoms and executive function were assessed at baseline, 6 months and 1 year. Insight was measured with the abridged version of Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Executive function was measured with the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MCST). The most significant improvement of insight and symptomatology was found over the first 6 months, whereas the perseverative errors of MCST were significantly improved between 6 and 12 months. Differential correlations of perseverative errors of the MCST and PANSS scores with SUMD were found at different time points. This suggests the involvement of different mechanisms in insight deficit at different stages of the illness. The baseline MCST perseverative errors were correlated significantly with the SUMD total score at 6 months and the change of SUMD scores over the first 6 months. Although the variance explained was small, it suggests better set-shifting capacity facilitates the improvement of insight at an early stage of the illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. Electronic address: kwsherry@hku.hk.
authors.forename: Sherry Kit Wa
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Kevin Ka Shing
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Christy Lai
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Gloria Hoi Yan
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wing Chung
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Edwin Ho Ming
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Jennifer Yee Man
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Room 219, New Clinical Building, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Eric Yu Hai
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
keywords: Executive function; First-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder; Insight; Symptomatology