title: Increased serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in the first episode but not in subsequent episodes in male patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have investigated the relationship between blood levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate ester (DHEA-S), cortisol, progesterone, and testosterone and the onset, prognosis, symptom severity, and treatment response of schizophrenia. In the present study, we assessed potential differences in blood levels of neurosteroids between drug-naïve first-episode patients with schizophrenia (FES), and drug-free patients with schizophrenia who were not in the first episode but were in a phase of acute exacerbation (DFP).
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study included 32 male FES, 28 male DFP, and 24 male healthy controls (HC). Groups were compared in terms of blood levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, testosterone, progesterone, and DHEA-S.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Blood levels of ACTH, cortisol, testosterone, and progesterone were similar among the groups. The mean value of serum DHEA-S was significantly different among the groups (P<0.001). The value of serum DHEA-S was higher in the FES group than in the DFP and HC groups (both P<0.001). The mean values of serum DHEA-S in the HC and DFP groups were found to be similar (P=0.33).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that higher values of DHEA-S in the FES group compared with both the DFP and HC groups indicate that this neurosteroid response is unique to first-episode schizophrenia patients. Further studies are needed to investigate the difference in blood levels of neurosteroids in different groups in terms of age of diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gölbaşı Hasvak State Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beyazyüz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yakup
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Albayrak
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elmas
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beyazyüz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cüneyt
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Unsal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erol
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Göka
keywords: effect; neurosteroid; psychosis