Liz Rietschel1,2, Martin Lambert1, Anne Karow1, Mathias Zink3, Hendrik Müller2, Andreas Heinz4, Walter de Millas4, Birgit Janssen5, Wolfgang Gaebel5, Frank Schneider6, Dieter Naber1, Georg Juckel7, Seza Krüger-Özgürdal7, Thomas Wobrock8, Michael Wagner9, Wolfgang Maier9, Joachim Klosterkötter2, Andreas Bechdolf2. 1. Psychosis Centre, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. 3. Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany. 4. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite University Medicine Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany. 5. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. 8. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen and Centre of Mental Health, County Hospitals Darmstadt-Dieburg, Gross-Umstadt, Germany. 9. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Abstract
AIM: Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder that presents differently in men and women: men show a higher propensity to negative symptoms, lower social functioning, earlier age at onset and co-morbid substance abuse, whereas women display more affective symptoms. It is unknown whether these differences extend to subjects at high risk (HR) of psychosis. Thus, the aim of the present study was to address this question. METHODS: Clinical symptoms and functioning were assessed using structured interviews in 239 HR subjects (female, n = 80). The definition of being at HR was based on the criteria used in the European Prediction of Psychosis Study (EPOS). RESULTS: Men displayed more pronounced negative symptoms, higher rates of past substance abuse disorders and higher deficits in social functioning. No gender difference was found for depression, which affected almost 50% of the cohort, or age at onset for the fulfilment of HR criteria. CONCLUSION: The higher impairment in specific symptoms observed in male schizophrenia patients was also present in subjects at HR for psychosis. Further studies are required to determine whether these symptoms are gender-specific predictors of transition to psychosis and whether they warrant gender-specific interventions. The high propensity to depression in the present cohort, which was particularly pronounced in the male cohort compared with the general population, in conjunction with the observed increase in negative symptoms and functional impairment, should alert clinicians to the necessity for the identification and treatment of HR subjects, irrespective of the degree to which these features are associated with transition risk.
AIM: Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder that presents differently in men and women: men show a higher propensity to negative symptoms, lower social functioning, earlier age at onset and co-morbid substance abuse, whereas women display more affective symptoms. It is unknown whether these differences extend to subjects at high risk (HR) of psychosis. Thus, the aim of the present study was to address this question. METHODS: Clinical symptoms and functioning were assessed using structured interviews in 239 HR subjects (female, n = 80). The definition of being at HR was based on the criteria used in the European Prediction of Psychosis Study (EPOS). RESULTS:Men displayed more pronounced negative symptoms, higher rates of past substance abuse disorders and higher deficits in social functioning. No gender difference was found for depression, which affected almost 50% of the cohort, or age at onset for the fulfilment of HR criteria. CONCLUSION: The higher impairment in specific symptoms observed in male schizophreniapatients was also present in subjects at HR for psychosis. Further studies are required to determine whether these symptoms are gender-specific predictors of transition to psychosis and whether they warrant gender-specific interventions. The high propensity to depression in the present cohort, which was particularly pronounced in the male cohort compared with the general population, in conjunction with the observed increase in negative symptoms and functional impairment, should alert clinicians to the necessity for the identification and treatment of HR subjects, irrespective of the degree to which these features are associated with transition risk.
Authors: Joseph S DeLuca; Derek M Novacek; Laura H Adery; Shaynna N Herrera; Yulia Landa; Cheryl M Corcoran; Elaine F Walker Journal: Evid Based Pract Child Adolesc Ment Health Date: 2022-03-23
Authors: Katrina Aberizk; Meghan A Collins; Jean Addington; Carrie E Bearden; Kristin S Cadenhead; Barbara A Cornblatt; Daniel H Mathalon; Thomas H McGlashan; Diana O Perkins; Ming T Tsuang; Scott W Woods; Tyrone D Cannon; Elaine F Walker Journal: Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging Date: 2021-04-28
Authors: Deanna L Kelly; Laura M Rowland; Kathleen M Patchan; Kelli Sullivan; Amber Earl; Heather Raley; Fang Liu; Stephanie Feldman; Robert P McMahon Journal: Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health Date: 2016-03-03 Impact factor: 3.033