Consensus five factor PANSS for evaluation of clinical remission: effects on functioning and cognitive performances

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group (RSWG) criteria, using 8 core Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptoms, are standard for assessing schizophrenia remission.
• Concerns exist regarding the RSWG criteria's ability to accurately identify truly remitted patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the established RSWG criteria (RSWG-cr) with more stringent criteria derived from the PANSS factor model (PANSS-FCTcr).
• To evaluate the efficacy of PANSS-FCTcr in identifying patients with better functional and neurocognitive outcomes.

Main Methods:

• 112 outpatients with chronic psychosis were assessed.
• Symptomatic remission was evaluated using both RSWG-cr and PANSS-FCTcr.
• Remission status was correlated with functional and neurocognitive performance.

Main Results:

• The PANSS-FCTcr demonstrated superior performance in identifying patients with higher functional and cognitive outcomes.
• This indicates that the factor model-based criteria are more sensitive to clinically meaningful remission.

Conclusions:

• The PANSS-FCTcr criteria appear suitable for both clinical practice and research settings.
• Utilizing PANSS-FCTcr can lead to improved identification of patients who have truly achieved remission in schizophrenia.