Impact of Delusions and Hallucinations on Clinical Insight Dimensions in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Insight in psychosis has been conceptualized as a continuous, dynamic, and multidimensional phenomenon. This study aims to determine the impact of delusions and hallucinations in different dimensions of clinical insight in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. METHODS: Cross-sectional multicenter study including 516 patients (336 men) diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Based on dichotomized scores of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) items P1 (delusions) and P3 (hallucinations), patients were assigned to four groups according to current clear presence of delusions (scores 4 or above 4 in PANSS item P1) and/or hallucinations (scores 4 or above 4 in PANNS item P3). Insight was assessed using the three main dimensions of the Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). RESULTS: Around 40% of patients showed unawareness of illness; 30% unawareness of the need for treatment; and 45% unawareness of the social consequences of the disorder. Patients with current clear presence of delusions had higher overall lack of awareness, regardless of current clear presence of hallucinations. Similarly, the clear presence of delusions showed a greater predictive value on insight than the presence of hallucinations, although the implication of both in the prediction was modest. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that lack of insight is highly prevalent in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, particularly when patients experience delusions. This study adds insight-related data to the growing symptom-based research, where specific types of psychotic experiences such as hallucinations and delusions could form different psychopathological patterns, linking the phenomenology of delusions to a lack of clinical insight.

Development and validation of a short version of the questionnaire of stressful life events (QSLE).

Stressful life events (SLE) tend to occur before the onset of psychosis, this highlights the importance of its detection and evaluation in these patients. The need to have instruments that assess SLE easily and quickly underpins the objective of this study, which is to validate a short version of the questionnaire of stressful life events (QSLE). 124 patients with first-episode psychosis and 218 healthy controls aged between 11 and 52 years were recruited. The QSLE scale underwent discrimination analysis, which revealed 18 items had good SLEs discriminability between the two samples. These 18 items were then used to create the shorter QSLE-SV. The QSLE-SV showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.749). An AUC of 0.830 was observed, suggesting that the predictor was good. Using 2 as the cut-off score to predict an individual as a patient would yield a sensitivity of 91.1% and a specificity of 51.6%, and using a cut-off point of 3, the sensitivity was 77.4% and the specificity was 72.5%. QSLE-SV displayed satisfactory psychometric properties in a Spanish population. The QSLE-SV allows for investigating childhood, adolescent and adult life events by measuring current stress and age on a continuous scale in a quick and easy way.

Early onset psychosis and cannabis use: Prevalence, clinical presentation and influence of daily use.

Most of the studies examining the impact of cannabis use in first episode psychosis (FEP) have been carried out in samples with adult-onset FEP. Data in persons with early onset psychosis (EOP) is scarce. The aims of the study were: To describe the prevalence of lifetime cannabis use, current use, and daily use in patients with EOP compared to healthy controls. To study the differences in clinical presentation between cannabis users and non-users. To examine the risk of presenting an EOP associated with cannabis use and the effect of doses and age of onset of use. An observational cross-sectional study was performed in 90 EOP cases and 62 healthy controls, aged between 7 and 17 years. Our results show a higher prevalence of lifetime use (p = 0002), current use (p < 0.001), and daily use (p < 0.001) in EOP cases in comparison with healthy controls. Regarding clinical presentation, we did not find significant differences in any subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Non-user patients presented more severe depressive symptoms (p = 0002) and worse social functioning than cannabis users (p = 0026). Compared with subjects who never used cannabis, the risk of an EOP was significantly higher for those with a lifetime use (OR = 2.88, p = 0.002)current use (O.R = 6.09, p < 0001), and especially in those with daily use (O.R = 42.77, p = <0001). We found a higher risk of EOP in patients that have used cannabis before 15 years of age. In conclusion, it is necessary to develop early- detection and specific treatment programs for adolescents with cannabis use.

Depressive symptoms and their relationship with negative and other psychotic symptoms in early onset psychosis.

The importance of depression in adult people with first-episode psychosis (FEP) has been demonstrated. However, it has hardly been studied in children and adolescents. There is a need to broaden knowledge of the relationship between psychotic symptoms and specific depression symptomatology. The aims of study were (a) to examine the frequency of presence and type of depressive symptoms in early onset FEP, and (b) to assess the relationship between depressive symptoms and psychotic symptomatology, and specifically negative symptoms. An observational cross-sectional study was performed in 62 FEP cases. Inclusion criteria were two or more psychotic symptoms, age 7-17 years old, first mental health service consultation, and fewer than 6 months from the first contact with the service. Participants were assessed with clinical and socio-demographic questionnaires: the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Children Depression Inventory (CDI). A Student t test was performed to compare psychotic symptoms in both groups: presence of depression and the absence of depression. A Pearson correlation was performed in order to relate subscales of the PANSS and each of the depression subscales and factors, as well the relation between negative and depressive symptoms. Our results show that a high percentage of people with an early onset of a FEP scored positively for depression. The most prevalent depressive symptoms were associated with schooling. The presence of depression was associated with negative, affective, and excited symptoms. Self-esteem, school problems, negative affect, and biological dysregulation were associated with psychotic symptoms. Finally, depressive items related to social functioning were more closely associated with negative symptoms of the PANSS. In conclusion, owing to the high incidence of depression in FEP in those suffering early onset of psychosis, there is a need for instruments to measure the depression more specifically in children and adolescent, and to uncover the clinical characteristics of depression in this population.

Exploring the relationship of insight with psychopathology and gender in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with structural equation modelling.

To model the influence of psychopathology on insight deficits in schizophrenia spectrum patients with a gender-stratified analysis. Five hundred sixteen patients (65.1% men) with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were evaluated in four centres of the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia). Psychopathological assessment was performed using different PANSS factors. Insight and its three main dimensions were assessed by means of the Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder: awareness of the disease (SUMD-1), of the effect of medication (SUMD-2) and of the social consequences of the disease (SUMD-3). Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to fix the model in the total sample and by gender. Additional analyses included age, duration of illness (DOI) and education status (ES). There were no significant differences between men and women in the three main dimensions of insight. The SEMs in the total sample showed a modest fitting capacity. Fitting improved after a gender-stratified analysis (particularly in women). In men, positive and excited symptoms were associated with poorer insight in all SUMD dimensions, whereas depressive symptoms were associated with better insight. ES in men was also associated with better SUMD-2 or SUMD-3. In contrast, in women, symptoms did not have a negative effect on SUMD-1 or SUMD-2. However, positive symptoms were associated with a poorer SUMD-3, whereas depressive symptoms were associated with better SUMD-3. Moreover, education level was also associated with a better SUMD-3. A gender approach improved the comprehension of the model, supporting the relevance of gender analysis in the study of insight.

Predictive capacity of prodromal symptoms in first-episode psychosis of recent onset.

BACKGROUND: Both the nature and number of a wide range of prodromal symptoms have been related to the severity and type of psychopathology in the psychotic phase. However, at present there is an incomplete picture focused mainly on the positive pre-psychotic dimension. AIM: To characterize the prodromal phase retrospectively, examining the number and nature of prodromal symptoms as well as their relationship with psychopathology at the onset of first-episode psychosis. METHODS: Retrospective study of 79 patients experiencing a first-episode psychosis of less than 1 year from the onset of full-blown psychosis. All patients were evaluated with a comprehensive battery of instruments including socio-demographic and clinical questionnaire, IRAOS interview, PANSS, stressful life events scale (PERI) and WAIS/WISC (vocabulary subtest). Bivariate associations and multiple regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: Regression models revealed that several prodromal dimensions of IRAOS (delusions, affect, language, behaviour and non-hallucinatory disturbances of perception) predicted the onset of psychosis, with positive (22.4% of the variance) and disorganized (25.6% of the variance) dimensions being the most widely explained. CONCLUSION: In addition to attenuated positive symptoms, other symptoms such as affective, behavioural and language disturbances should also be considered in the definitions criteria of at-high-risk people.

Development and validation of the Questionnaire of Stressful Life Events (QSLE).

Stressful life events (SLEs) are important indicators prior to the onset of first-episode psychosis (FEP). Although there are well-validated interviews and self-reports for assessing SLE on proximate events, unfortunately there are no instruments to assess SLE covering an entire lifetime. This study includes detailed specific items of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood focused on the presence of SLE, emotional impact (stressfulness), and the age at which the event occurred. Our research describes 2 studies designed to develop and validate a new scale to assess SLE: the Questionnaire of Stressful Life Events (QSLE). In Study 1, an over-inclusive item pool was generated based on review of group of experts at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and content validity was examined by an Expert Survey. The whole scale represents the content domain. In Study 2, item-level analyses revealed good distributional properties, intra-rater reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. In the sensitivity and specificity analysis, 18 items had high relevance in the discriminability between patients with FEP and healthy controls. We note that there was an AUC of 0.676, indicating a good predictor. Using 7 as a cutoff to predict an individual as a patient would yield a sensitivity of 64.8% and a specificity of 65%. Overall, the QSLE displayed satisfactory psychometric characteristics in a Spanish population. These results suggest that QSLE gives us the opportunity to investigate childhood, adolescent, and adult life events by measuring the stress and age at the moment on a continuous scale.

A deeper view of insight in schizophrenia: Insight dimensions, unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms and its relation with psychopathological factors.

OBJECTIVE: 1. To describe insight in a large sample of schizophrenia subjects from a multidimensional point of view, including unawareness of general insight dimensions as well as unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms. 2. To explore the relationship between unawareness and clinical and socio-demographic variables. METHODS: 248 schizophrenia patients were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS, five factor model of Lindenmayer) and the full Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Bivariate associations and multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between unawareness, symptoms and socio-demographic variables. RESULTS: Around 40% of the sample showed unawareness of mental disorder, of the need for medication and of the social consequences. Levels of unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms varied considerably. General unawareness dimensions showed small significant correlations with positive, cognitive and excitement factors of psychopathology, whereas these symptom factors showed higher correlations with unawareness of particular symptoms. Similarly, regression models showed a small significant predictive value of positive symptoms in the three general unawareness dimensions while a moderate one in the prediction of particular symptoms. Misattribution showed no significant correlations with any symptom factors. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm that insight in schizophrenia is a multi-phased phenomenon and that unawareness into particular symptoms varies widely. The overlap between unawareness dimensions and psychopathology is small and seems to be restricted to positive and cognitive symptoms, supporting the accounts from cognitive neurosciences that suggest that besides basic cognition poor insight may be in part a failure of self-reflection or strategic metacognition.

Incidence of stressful life events and influence of sociodemographic and clinical variables on the onset of first-episode psychosis.

This study presents a quantitative analysis of the incidence of stressful life events (SLEs) and the variables gender, age at onset, family history and psychotic symptoms in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP). A descriptive, cross-sectional methodology was used to interview 68 patients with FEP between 13 and 47 years of age. The Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview Life Events Scale collected one-year period prior to onset of FEP - used to analyse the subcategories academic, work, love and marriage, children, residence, legal affairs, finances and social activities-, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale were used to assess the relevance of certain SLEs during adolescence. Age at onset showed a significant negative correlation with the categories academic and social activities. By contrast, it showed a positive correlation with work and children. A significant relationship was found between paternal family history and social activities and between maternal family history and academic and love and marriage. Finally, an inverse relationship was observed between negative symptoms and the categories children and finance. Depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with the category academic. Our results show the importance of SLEs during adolescence and suggest that there is a clear need to develop preventive actions that promote effective strategies for dealing with the accumulation of psychosocial stress.

Insight and gender in schizophrenia and other psychoses.

This study aimed to evaluate gender differences in the deficit of insight in psychosis and determine influences of clinical, functional, and sociodemographic variables. A multicenter sample of 401 adult patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders who agreed to participate was evaluated in four centers of the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia). Psychopathological assessment was performed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale Lindenmayers' Factors. Insight and its dimensions were assessed by means of the Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder. Significant differences were apparent neither between men and women in the three dimensions of insight, nor in the total awareness, nor in the total attribution subscales. However, statistically significant differences were found in awareness and attribution of particular symptoms. Women showed a worse awareness of thought disorder and alogia and a higher misattribution of apathy. Higher cognitive and positive symptoms, early stage of the illness, and having been married explained deficits of insight dimensions in women. In men, other variables such as lower functioning, higher age, other psychosis diagnosis, and, to a lower extent, higher scores in cognitive, positive, and excitative symptoms, explained deficits of insight dimensions. These data could help to design gender-specific preventive and therapeutic strategies.

Differential effects of sex on substance use between first episode psychosis patients and healthy people.

BACKGROUND: Substance use in psychosis is an important field of study given that it can be a risk factor for the development of psychosis and can give rise to psychotic symptoms. Studies of substance use in first episode psychosis patients do not frequently assess non-pathological substance consumption among patients, but rather the prevalence of substance abuse or dependence disorders. Moreover, most of these studies do not address the effects of sex in sufficient depth, and the consumption of caffeine or tobacco, which are two of the most frequently used substances, is often not assessed. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare patterns and quantities of substance use between first episode psychosis patients and healthy controls and between men and women, and explore the potential interactive effects between group (patients or controls) and sex. METHODS: A total of 158 participants (82 first episode psychosis patients and 76 healthy controls) were included in the study. Both adults and adolescents were included in the study. Frequency and amount of use of caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, stimulants, and opiates were gathered. RESULTS: A significant main effect of sex was found for the frequency of use of tobacco (p=.050). Main effects of group were found for the quantity of tobacco (p<.001) and cannabis (p<.001) consumed, as well as main effects of sex for the quantity of alcohol (p=.003) and cannabis (p=.017) consumed. There were also interaction effects between group and sex for the frequency of use of tobacco (p=.005) and cannabis (p=.009), and for the amount of cannabis consumed (p=.049). Qualitative differences between males and females regarding combined substance use are also reported. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients, men used tobacco more frequently than women, but this sex difference was not the same for the control group, in which women smoked more often than men. Regarding cannabis, men smoked cannabis more frequently and in larger amounts than women, but only in the patients group, whereas no sex differences for cannabis were found for the controls. Main effects of group and sex for tobacco and alcohol, as well as the lack of differences for the frequency and amount of use of caffeine, are also commented. This is the first study to assess the different effects of sex on substance use in first episode psychosis patients and healthy controls.

Influence of cognition, premorbid adjustment and psychotic symptoms on psycho-social functioning in first-episode psychosis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between psycho-social functioning and symptoms, cognitive function, and premorbid adjustment, in patients with a first-episode psychosis. METHOD: Clinical data were obtained from 90 patients, who were assessed with the Disability Assessment Scale (DAS-sv), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS-S) and with a battery of cognitive tests including Trail Making Tests A and B (TMTA- B), Continous Performance Test (CPT), some subscales of the Wechler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), and the Verbal Learning Test España-Complutense (TAVEC). RESULTS: The results of the study suggest that psycho-social functioning in first-episode psychosis is significantly related to: positive, negative, excitative, affective and disorganized symptoms, social premorbid adjustment, cognitive flexibility, working memory, short term and long term memory. Of these, those which best explained psycho-social functioning are the positive and excitative symptoms, premorbid adjustment, flexibility and memory. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance early intervention on cognitive and clinical variables to help provide a better psycho-social functioning in people with a first-episode of psychosis.

Cannabis use and cognitive function in first episode psychosis: differential effect of heavy use.

RATIONALE: First episode patients and patients with schizophrenia exhibit increased rates of cannabis use compared to the general population. Contrary to what has been reported in studies with healthy people, most of the published studies so far have reported no impairments or even beneficial effects on neurocognition associated with cannabis consumption in psychotic patients. However, these studies did not address the effects of very high cannabis consumption. OBJECTIVES: Our aim in this study was to assess the effects on neurocognition of medium and heavy cannabis consumption in first psychotic episode patients. METHODS: A total of 74 patients were included in the study and assigned to three different groups according to their mean cannabis consumption during the last year (non-users, medium users, and heavy users). Participants were administered verbal memory and other neurocognitive tasks. RESULTS: Heavy cannabis users were significantly impaired in all the verbal memory measures with respect to non-users, including immediate (p = .026), short-term (p = .005), and long-term (p = .002) memory. There were no significant differences between medium and non-users. Moreover, non-users performed better than all cannabis users in the arithmetic task (p = .020). Heavy cannabis consumption was associated with more commission errors in the continuous performance task (CPT) (p = .008) and more time to complete trail making test A (TMT-A) (p = .008), compared to the group of medium users. CONCLUSIONS: Heavy cannabis consumption seems to impair verbal memory in first psychotic episode patients. Heavy users also perform worse than medium users in other neurocognitive tasks. Based on the results and the available evidence, a dose-related effect of cannabis consumption is suggested.

Relationship between menarche and psychosis onset in women with first episode of psychosis.

AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between age at menarche and age at first episode of psychosis, as well as clinical severity and outcome, in a population of women with first-episode psychosis. METHODS: Clinical and socio-demographical data, age at menarche and at first-episode psychosis, parental history of psychosis and cannabis-use habits were obtained from 42 subjects with a first episode of psychosis. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Clinical Global Impression, Global Assessment Function, Disability Assessment Schedule, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, European Quality of Life, and Lewis and Murray Obstetric Complication Scales were administered. Statistical analysis was performed by means of zero-order correlations and Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests using SPSS version 17.0. RESULTS: We found no significant correlation between age at menarche and age at first-episode psychosis, or with the clinical scores performed. We observed that subjects with earlier age at menarche had more parental history of psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our negative results do not support the theory of a possible protective role of oestrogen, which seems to be more complex than previously thought. We would suggest that further research is needed to investigate developmental influences of sex steroids on the onset of psychosis and potentially therapeutic benefits based upon oestrogen.

Sexual dysfunctions in people with first-episode psychosis assessed according to a gender perspective.

AIM: Patients with chronic mental disorders often can suffer from sexual dysfunction. Nevertheless, the sexual functioning of new patients with first-episode psychosis has been little explored. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in sexual functioning in people with first-episode psychosis. METHODS: A group of 40 males and 37 females with first-episode psychosis took part in the research. We administered a psychiatric protocol composed of the PANSS, UKU and SCID-DSM-IV diagnosis. RESULTS: We found that the 42.5% of the male group had sexual dysfunctions while the percentage of the female group was 37.8%. The correlation between sexual dysfunctions and psychopathology did not reveal any association in males. However, in females, general psychopathology and positive symptoms are linked to the alteration of vaginal lubrication: (r=0.547; p=0.003) and (r=0.485; p=0.011), although orgasm alteration was also associated with general psychopathology (r=0.500; p=0.013). Moreover, we found a relation between the alteration of vaginal lubrication with depression(r=0.627; p<0.0001) and disorder of volition (r=0.600; p<0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the association between sexual dysfunctions and psychopathology regarded only women. Therefore, during the taking charge of patients it is fundamental to consider the gender-specific relationship between psychopathology and sexual problems.

Three-factor model of premorbid adjustment in a sample with chronic schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis.

BACKGROUND: The dimensionality of premorbid adjustment (PA) has been a debated issue, with attempts to determine whether PA is a unitary construct or composed of several independent domains characterized by a differential deterioration pattern and specific outcome correlates. AIMS: This study examines the factorial structure of PA, as well as, the course and correlates of its domains. METHOD: Retrospective study of 84 adult patients experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP) (n=33) and individuals with schizophrenia (SCH) (n=51). All patients were evaluated with a comprehensive battery of instruments including clinical, functioning and neuropsychological variables. A principal component analysis accompanied by a varimax rotation method was used to examine the factor structure of the PAS-S scale. Paired t tests and Wilcoxon rank tests were used to assess the changes in PAS domains over time. Bivariate correlation analyses were performed to analyse the relationship between PAS factors and clinical, social and cognitive variables. RESULTS: PA was better explained by three factors (71.65% of the variance): Academic PA, Social PA and Socio-sexual PA. The academic domain showed higher scores of PA from childhood. Social and clinical variables were more strongly related to Social PA and Socio-sexual PA domains, and the Academic PA domain was exclusively associated with cognitive variables. CONCLUSION: This study supports previous evidence, emphasizing the validity of dividing PA into its sub-components. A differential deterioration pattern and specific correlates were observed in each PA domains, suggesting that impairments in each PA domain might predispose individuals to develop different expressions of psychotic dimensions.

Cognitive profiles of three clusters of patients with a first-episode psychosis.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to identify specific groups of patients with a first-episode psychosis based on family history, obstetric complications, neurological soft signs, and premorbid functioning. The secondary objective was to relate these groups with cognitive variables. METHOD: A total of 62 first-episode psychoses were recruited from adult and child and adolescent mental health services. The inclusion criteria were patients between 7 and 65 years old (real range of the samples was 13-35 years old), two or more psychotic symptoms and less than one year from the onset of the symptoms. Premorbid functioning (PAS), soft signs (NES), obstetric complications and a neuropsychological battery (CPT, TMTA/TMTB, TAVEC/TAVECI, Stroop, specific subtest of WAIS-III/WISC-IV) were administered. RESULTS: We found three clusters: 1) higher neurodevelopment contribution (N=14), 2) higher genetic contribution (N=30), and 3) lower neurodevelopment contribution (N=18). Statistical differences were found between groups in TMTB, learning curve of the TAVEC, digits of the WAIS and premorbid estimated IQ, the cluster 1 being the most impaired. CONCLUSIONS: A cluster approach could differentiate several groups of patients with different cognitive performance. Neuropsychological interventions, as cognitive remediation, should be addressed specifically to patients with more impaired results.

Spanish validation of the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS-S).

BACKGROUND: The Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) has been the most widely used scale to quantify premorbid status in schizophrenia, coming to be regarded as the gold standard of retrospective assessment instruments. AIMS: To examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PAS (PAS-S). METHOD: Retrospective study of 140 individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis (n=77) and individuals who have schizophrenia (n=63), both adult and adolescent patients. Data were collected through a socio-demographic questionnaire and a battery of instruments which includes the following scales: PAS-S, PANSS, LSP, GAF and DAS-sv. The Cronbach's alpha was performed to assess the internal consistency of PAS-S. Pearson's correlations were performed to assess the convergent and discriminant validity. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha of the PAS-S scale was 0.85. The correlation between social PAS-S and total PAS-S was 0.85 (p<0.001); while for academic PAS-S and total PAS-S it was 0.53 (p<0.001). Significant correlations were observed between all the scores of each age period evaluated across the PAS-S scale, with a significance value less than 0.001. There was a relationship between negative symptoms and social PAS-S (0.20, p<0.05) and total PAS-S (0.22, p<0.05), but not with academic PAS-S. However, there was a correlation between academic PAS-S and general subscale of the PANSS (0.19, p<0.05). Social PAS-S was related to disability measures (DAS-sv); and academic PAS-S showed discriminant validity with most of the variables of social functioning. PAS-S did not show association with the total LSP scale (discriminant validity). CONCLUSION: The Spanish version of the Premorbid Adjustment Scale showed appropriate psychometric properties in patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis and who have a chronic evolution of the illness. Moreover, each domain of the PAS-S (social and academic premorbid functioning) showed a differential relationship to other characteristics such as psychotic symptoms, disability or social functioning after onset of illness.

Gender differences in incipient psychosis

Background and Objectives: To describe gender differences in a group of patients with first-episode psychotic in different aspects: socio-demographic features, characteristics of the phases prior to disease onset (premorbid and prodromic periods), clinical manifestation of psychotic symptoms and possible corresponding cognitive alterations after disease onset, using the age at onset of first psychotic episode as a control variable. Methods: Longitudinal study of 53 consecutive cases with a first psychotic episode. Inclusion criteria: two or more psychotic symptoms; age between 7 to 65 years old; first consultation to the medical center of study; less than 6 months since the first contact to the medical service; and less than a year of symptoms’ evolution. The methodologic assessment includes: a socio-demographic questionnaire and an extensive battery of tests to asses premorbid/prodromic, clinical and cognitive characteristics. We perform mean differences tests to analyze continuous variables (non-parametric U-Mann-Whitney and t-Student test) and chi-square test for categorical variables (SPSS 16.0).Results: In the group of patients under 18 years, men showed higher scores in adjustment premorbid (U = 54.0, p = 0.050), more neurological soft signs (U = 31.0 p = 0.003), more negative psychotic symptoms (U = 48.5, p = 0.051) and worse insight (U = 30.0, p = 0.003)than women (after 8 weeks of psychotic episode onset).Conclusions: We found gender differences in most of the variables analyzed when age at onset was controlled. These differences should be taken into account to learn more about the different types of onset of the disease, its prevention and possible improvements in therapeutic approach. Our findings suggest that younger men with an earlier onset of psychotic episode have more alterations in the stages prior to the onset of the disease supporting the neurodevelopmental hypothesis for gender differences (AU)

Evaluación de la conducta adolescente con las Escalas de Achenbach: ¿existe concordancia entre diferentes informantes?

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Summary: Introduction Behavioural problems in adolescents are thought to be relevant as strong predictors for the detection of other psychological disorders. For this reason and due to the importance they present by themselves, carrying out an adequate assessment of them is fundamental. Mental health professionals have diverse opinions about the value and importance of the different informants. The majority choose of their sources according to the disorder and necessities of each evaluator. On the other hand, the need to obtain data about adolescents' functioning from multiple resources has been emphasised and numerous reasons have been exposed. Concretely, the fact of carrying out the most objective and complete evaluations as possible has been considered essential in those studies aimed at evaluating behavioural alteration in adolescents. For this reason, Achenbach developed three versions of his scale: one for the parents, another for the teachers and a third one for the adolescents themselves. Numerous investigations have studied the concordance between groups of informants about different behavioural alterations in adolescents, but none have carried out a complete analysis of all informants in all subscales (not only the total ones). For this reason, the current study has been developed with the aim of contributing to obtain an enriching vision for the professional in the field. Objectives. a) To systematically explore agreement patterns between adolescents, teachers and parents who inform of behavioural problems in adolescents in the general population and b) in those cases in which no agreement is found, to analyse the level of disagreement between each pair of informants for each subscale. Methodology. Cross-sectional and descriptive study Participants. The study was formed by 160 triads of parents, teachers and 13-16 year old adolescents selected from several schools in Barcelona. Instruments. The three forms of the Achenbach scale to measure behavioural alterations were applied. The scale was translated into Spanish by the Unit of Epidemiology and Diagnostic in Psychopathology of the Development of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona: Youth Self-Report, self-evaluated, Child Behaviour Checklist/4-18 and Teacher's Report Form, both heteroevaluated and completed by parents and teachers, respectively. These three forms contain a 89-item set that evaluates the same behaviour, where eight items are organised in scales of syndromes derived empirically and which are invariant throughout informants. The eight subscales are: withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxious/depressed, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, delinquent behaviour and aggressive behaviour. Some of them are grouped in second order factors: the first three in internalising, the last two in externalising, and the rest of them provide a total problems punctuation. Statistical procedure. Agreement values were analysed for each pair of informants and each subscale through the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). A value below 0.40 indicates low concordance. In these cases, the statistical analysis proceeds with the discordance analysis by pairs of informants and for each subscale through the Bland Altman Method. Results. A low concordance (below 0.40) between informants was found especially in internalizing scales (0.230). A slightly higher value was found in attention (0.334), aggressive behaviour (0.371), externalizing (0.357), and total subscales (0.327). Secondly, it was observed that, when informing about somatic complains, thought and attention problems, internalising items and the total scale, parents reported more alterations, followed by adolescents and teachers. Also, parents indicated more withdrawal problems in adolescents, although in this case they were followed by teachers and adolescents themselves. Finally, in the evaluation of the anxiety/depression scales, social problems, delinquent behaviour, aggressiveness and externalising conducts, adolescents informed of more alterations followed by their parents, and then by the teachers. Regarding the agreement/disagreement variability throughout the scales scores, the discordance between different informants was higher when the punctuation was further away from normality, generally when the scales were scored higher. Discussion. The normative criteria of comparison and the reference frames for each group of informants are different. For instance, the fact that teachers report less behavioural alterations could be explained because of their familiarity in dealing with adolescents and a higher tolerance towards some behaviors. In general terms, this result fits in with most conclusions from investigations carried out in this field. On the other hand, the fact that parents inform of more internalising problems could be attributed to adolescent behaviour which would in turn alter the family context. Another explanation might be that parents are on the whole more implicated and more sensitive in detecting certain conducts or behavioural alterations in their offspring. In any case, it is disputable whether the lack of concordance between the different informants does really exist or, on the contrary, adolescent behaviour changes depending on the context. Finally, a result contradicting those found in the studies reviewed is that adolescents are the ones who report more externalising problems. Other authors have found that adolescents inform more about internalising problems, something which should be expected taking into account that they are the ones who know themselves better. This could be possibly explained by the presence of more social desirability/undesirability among the adolescents of our sample in front of their pair group when answering to the evaluation scales; this may be due to the group context in which the case was applied. The main limitation of the present study that it was carried out with a general population sample, although from another point of view this may be considered as a gain of the study. We recommend carrying out explicative studies about discordance, which could clarify the predictive validity of each informant group and make variations in the type of sample under study. Conclusions. Data from different sources contribute with specific information of relative validity. This is why a multidimensional, multisituational and mulitiinformant approach is fundamental. This is necessary not only to evaluate behavioural alterations in adolescents within a research context, but also when taking diagnostic decisions in a clinical context, because, depending on the chosen informant, the diagnostic criteria for one disorder or another might change. Also, our results imply that there may be an underdetection of behavioural problems in adolescents by the adults, which would result in a lower psychological demand than the necessary.