The psychiatric symptomatology of deficit schizophrenia: a meta-analysis

A relatively large literature has emerged supporting the notion that the deficit syndrome reflects a distinct illness within schizophrenia. One topic that has received limited attention is how deficit schizophrenia differs from nondeficit schizophrenia in terms of psychiatric symptomatology. The present study conducted a meta-analysis of 47 published studies to compare deficit and nondeficit patients in severity of positive, disorganization, negative, mood and total psychiatric symptoms. The patient groups did not differ in terms of positive or total psychiatric symptoms but deficit patients showed less severe mood symptoms and slightly more severe disorganization symptoms. Not surprisingly, deficit patients had much more severe negative symptoms. These results are discussed in terms of the construct validity of the deficit syndrome and the larger heterogeneity of schizophrenia. Additionally, diagnostic issues regarding the deficit syndrome are considered.