Social cognitive functioning in prodromal psychosis: A meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
There is substantial evidence regarding a social cognitive deficit in schizophrenia, and it has been suggested to be a trait-marker of this disorder. However, a domain-by-domain analysis of social cognitive deficits in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis has not been performed.


METHODS
Electronic databases were searched for studies regarding social cognitive performance in individuals at CHR. The included social cognitive domains, which were classified based on the Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), were as follows: theory of mind (ToM), social perception (SP), attributional bias (AB), and emotion processing (EP).


RESULTS
Twenty studies that included 1229 individuals at CHR and 825 healthy controls met the inclusion criteria. The overall effect size for social cognition was medium (g=-0.477). The largest effect size was identified for AB (g=-0.708). A medium effect size was identified for EP (g=-0.446) and ToM (g=-0.425), and small effects were identified for SP (g=-0.383).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first quantitative domain-by-domain social cognitive meta-analysis regarding CHR individuals. The present study indicated that individuals at CHR exhibited significant impairments in all domains of social cognition compared with healthy controls, with the largest effect size identified for AB. The identification of social cognitive domains that reflect an increased risk for impending psychosis and of predictors of the conversion to psychosis via a longitudinal follow-up study is required.
Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Tae Young
TY
Lee
Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sang Bin
SB
Hong
Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Na Young
NY
Shin
Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kwonjs@snu.ac.kr.
Jun Soo
JS
Kwon
D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D056345:Theory of Mind
Attribution bias; Clinical high risk for psychosis; Meta-analysis; Prodromal psychosis; Social cognition