title: Disorganized Symptoms Predicted Worse Functioning Outcome in Schizophrenia Patients with Established Illness.
abstract: Most patients with schizophrenia will have subsequent relapses of the disorder, with continuous impairments in functioning. However, evidence is lacking on how symptoms influence functioning at different phases of the disease. This study aims to investigate the relationship between symptom dimensions and functioning at different phases: acute exacerbation, nonremission and remission.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with schizophrenia were grouped into acutely ill (n=89), not remitted (n=89), and remitted (n=69). Three exploratory stepwise linear regression analyses were performed for each phase of schizophrenia, in which the five PANSS factors and demographic variables were entered as the independent variables and the total Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) score was entered as the dependent variable. An additional exploratory stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to predict subsequent remission at discharge in the inpatient population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Disorganized factor was the most significant predictor for acutely ill patients (p<0.001), while the Hostility factor was the most significant for not-remitted patients and the Negative factor was the most significant for remitted patients (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). In the logistic regression, the Disorganized factor score presented a significant negative association with remission (p=0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher disorganization symptoms showed the greatest impact in functioning at acute phase, and prevented patients from achieving remission, suggesting it may be a marker of symptom severity and worse outcome in schizophrenia.
authors.forename: Bruno Bertolucci
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: Ary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadelha
authors.forename: Cinthia Hiroko
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Noto
authors.forename: Daiane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: José Cássio do Nascimento
authors.initials: JCDN
authors.lastname: Pitta
authors.forename: Gerardo Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: de Araújo Filho
authors.forename: Jaime Eduardo Cecílio
authors.initials: JEC
authors.lastname: Hallak
authors.forename: Rodrigo Affonseca
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bressan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Disorganized Schizophrenia; Functional Remission; Remission in Schizophrenia; Symptom Dimensions