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Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: their evolution during an acute phase
1Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Centre Esquirol, Côte de Nacre, Caen, France.
Schizophrenia Research
|October 1, 1995
Summary
Negative symptoms in schizophrenia show varied stability during acute illness remission, with some improving and others remaining constant. Changes in negative symptoms correlate with positive, depressive, and extrapyramidal symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The long-term stability of negative symptoms in schizophrenia is a subject of ongoing debate.
- Previous research may have been confounded by studying negative symptoms across different illness phases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differential stability of negative symptoms during the remission of acute schizophrenia.
- To explore the relationship between changes in negative symptoms and other clinical domains.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated 57 schizophrenia patients at hospital admission and discharge using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and Extrapyramidal Symptoms Rating Scale (ESRS).
- Medication dosages were standardized to chlorpromazine equivalents.
Main Results:
- While overall SANS and SAPS scores improved, specific items within affective flattening and alogia subscales remained stable.
- Changes in most SANS subscores correlated with changes in positive, depressive, and extrapyramidal symptoms.
- Affective flattening changes were significantly associated with depressive symptoms (MADRS scores).
Conclusions:
- Negative symptoms in schizophrenia exhibit variable stability during acute phase remission, necessitating analysis of individual items rather than global subscale scores.
- The course of negative symptoms is interconnected with other clinical dimensions, including positive, depressive, and extrapyramidal symptoms.