Abstract
BackgroundThe prevalence of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients seems to be an important indicator for treatment response and prognosis. Although negative symptoms have often been attributed to frontal lobe anomalies, neuropsychological and anatomical findings do not explicitly support this assumption. Since knowledge about the cerebral correlate of negative symptoms in schizophrenia might have a strong impact on therapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions, we aimed to answer this question by investigating the relationship between negative symptoms, neuropsychological functioning and cerebral volumes in schizophrenic patients.MethodsTwenty schizophrenic patients and 32 healthy controls were examined using a neuropsychological test battery for the assessment of temporal (mnestic) and frontal (executive) faculties. Volumetric measurements of temporal (hippocampus and amygdala) and frontal (orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and anterior cingulate area) brain areas were performed. Negative symptoms were assessed using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS).ResultsSchizophrenic patients performed worse than healthy controls in tests assessing verbal and visuospatial learning and memory functions and on the Stroop interference task. After dividing the schizophrenic group in patients with high and low SANS scores almost all of these deficits were restricted to the former group. There were no overall group differences regarding cerebral subarea volumes. Overall negative symptoms were significantly correlated with verbal memory functions but not with frontal lobe faculties.ConclusionsNegative symptoms in schizophrenia could specifically associated with verbal memory deficits.
Highlights
The prevalence of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients seems to be an important indicator for treatment response and prognosis
Patient and control group The overall group of schizophrenic patients as well as the subgroup of patients with high and low negative symptom scores were matched in terms of age, sex and duration of education
There were no differences between the two schizophrenic subgroups in terms of duration of schizophrenia, age of onset of clinical symptoms, total amount of time hospitalized for schizophrenia and number of psychotic episodes
Summary
The prevalence of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients seems to be an important indicator for treatment response and prognosis. In 1985 Crow suggested a dichotomic concept for the diagnosis of schizophrenia by dividing schizophrenic disorders into type I- and type II-schizophrenia according to the prevalence of either positive or negative symptoms [1]. The concept of negative symptoms in schizophrenia has attracted much attention, since negative symptoms have been identified as important indicators for treatment response and prognosis. Negative symptomatology in schizophrenia was found to intensify the severity of illness and strongly influence global functioning [5]. Negative symptoms have been associated with social problem solving [9]. They may predict response to certain medication. Clozapine responders were identified by a lesser degree of negative symptomatology [10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
