title: Neurological and cerebellar soft signs do not discriminate schizophrenia from bipolar disorder patients.
abstract: Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share subtle motor abnormalities called the neurological soft signs (NSS). Since in both diseases there is evidence for alterations in cerebellar functions, structure and connectivity, we expected that the cerebellar soft signs (CSS), analogue of NSS focusing strictly on cerebellar symptoms, would be also a common trait in SZ and BD. We examined 30 patients with BD, 30 patients with SZ and 28 control subjects using the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES, for NSS) and International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS, for CSS). SZ and BD did not differ in total and subscales' scores in both NES and ICARS. Subscale analysis revealed that SZ performed significantly worse than controls in all the subscales of both NES and ICARS. BD patients scored significantly worse than controls in all NES subscales and in oculomotor and kinetic subscales of the ICARS, while other ICARS subscales did not differentiate those two groups. To our knowledge this is the first study to show that CSS constitute common symptoms in BD and SZ. We recommend a special focus on those diseases in further research regarding structural and functional changes of cerebellum and their clinical outcome.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland. Electronic address: adrian.andrzej.chrobak@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adrian Andrzej
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Chrobak
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland.
authors.forename: Grzegorz Przemysław
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Siwek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena St. 6, Cracow 30-060, Poland; École des Neurosciences à Paris, France.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siuda-Krzywicka
authors.affiliation: Department of Affective Disorders, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arciszewska
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology Department, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Starowicz-Filip
authors.affiliation: Department of Affective Disorders, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siwek
authors.affiliation: Department of Affective Disorders, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika St. 21A, Cracow 31-501, Poland.
authors.forename: Dominika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dudek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D018692:Antimanic Agents; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Cerebellum; Movement disorders; Schizophrenia