Relationship Between Metabolic Syndrome and Clinical Features, and Its Personal-Social Performance in Patients with Schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic syndrome (MS) criteria and also to investigate the effects of MS on medical treatment, clinical course and personal and social performance in patients with schizophrenia. One hundred-sixteen patients with schizophrenia were included in the study. Measurements of MS were calculated in all patients. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP) were applied. The frequency of MS according to IDF criteria was 42.2 % among the patients. There was no significant difference between patients with and without MS in terms of age. The ratios of MS were 62.5 % for the group taking typical and atypical antipsychotics together and 35.7 % for the group taking two or more atypical antipsychotics together. The duration of disorder in patients with MS was higher than those without MS. Furthermore there was no significant difference between the schizophrenic patients with and without MS, in terms of PSP scores. Our findings showed that the duration of illness, high scores of BMI, use of clozapine or concurrent use of typical and atypical antipsychotics, depressive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia were significant risk factors for the development of MS.

Differences in Affective Temperaments in Anxiety Disorders: Comparison of Panic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, probable differences in affective temperament among anxiety disorders were investigated via a comparison of panic disorder (PD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). METHOD: 44 patients with OCD and 42 patients with PD, who were admitted to Bakirkoy Prof. Dr. Mazhar Osman Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery outpatient clinics with complaints of OCD and PD and were diagnosed according to DSM IV criteria, were consecutively included in the study after informed consent was taken. A sociodemographic form, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID I), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Beck Anxiety Inventory, Panic and Agoraphobia Scale, Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the temperament evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) were given to the patients. PD and OCD patients were compared in terms of affective temperament characteristics. RESULTS: Mean age, educational status and gender distribution of OCD and PD patients were similar (p>0.05). Dominant depressive temperament was more prominent in OCD group than in PD group (p=0.021). Hyperthymic temperament scores were higher in PD group than in OCD group (p=0.002). Dominant hyperthymic temperament was not encountered in either group. CONCLUSION: Dominant depressive temperament was more prominent in OCD group whereas hyperthymic temperament scores were higher in PD group. These findings should be evaluated in studies with larger sample sizes.

Physical deformity associated with psychotic symptoms in two patients with schizophrenia.

Movement disorders and related physical deformities may sometimes be observed in patients with chronic psychotic disorders. In this article, we present the case of two patients with physical deformities associated with chronic psychotic disorders. In the first case, the patient had never sought psychiatric care despite her long-standing psychiatric disorder. The patient, diagnosed with disorganized schizophrenia, developed cervical kyphosis, due to her constant neck flexion posture. The other patient had been undergoing treatment for a long period under the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. In the latter case, peroneal nerve injury and dropped foot had developed due to a constant crossing of the legs. Physical deformity may also develop as a result of physical inactivity-hypokinesia, a fixed body posture, and postural disorders in chronic psychotic patients. Due attention should be given to physical symptoms in this group of patients and physical deformities should be treated alongside the patient's psychotic symptoms.