Investigation of Apraxia in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Type I

Almost 50% of patients with schizophrenia experience problems in their praxia performance, whereas executive function losses can be seen in patients with bipolar disorder. Although schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be categorized as different disorders, in patient groups with similar symptom clusters, we aimed to determine whether there are common or disorder-specific praxia defects and to investigate the relationship between the sociodemographic and clinical features with apraxia.

52 Schizophrenia and 77 Bipolar Disorder Type I outpatients in remission for at least 6 months were included in our study. Test of Upper Limb Apraxia (TULIA) and Mayo Clinic Praxia Assessment Test (MCPAT) were used to evaluate praxia performance.

Patients with Schizophrenia performed poorer on the TULIA and MCPAT than patients with Bipolar Disorder Type I. While impairment in personal and social functioning was higher in the apraxic schizophrenia group compared to the non-apraxic group, the mean age of disease onset was lower. Functioning in the Apraxic Bipolar Disorder Type I group was lower than in the group without apraxia; whereas the patient's age, duration of disease and number of hospitalizations were higher.

Although apraxia, which have an important effect on the functioning and quality of life of the patient by causing impairment in daily activities, are seen at higher rates in patients with schizophrenia, might be also seen in patients with bipolar disorder type I. Decreasing diagnostic confusion and developing appropriate treatment strategies, evaluation of apraxia seems to be clinically important in terms of prognosis of diseases and functioning of patients.