Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T10:38:14.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) profiling in schizoaffective disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2020

Eva Juselius Baghdassarian*
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Tommy Lewander
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
*
Author for correspondence: Eva Juselius Baghdassarian, Email: eva.baghdassarian@neuro.uu.se

Abstract

Objective:

The aim of the study was to assess whether the auditory brainstem response (ABR) profiling test for schizophrenia (SZ) would recognise schizoaffective disorder (SZA) patients as SZ or not.

Method:

Male and female SZA patients (n = 16) from the psychosis unit at Uppsala University Hospital were investigated. Coded sets of randomised ABR recordings intermingled with patients with SZ, adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls were analysed by an independent party blinded to clinical diagnoses.

Results:

The ABR profiling test for SZ was positive in 5/16 patients (31%) and negative in 11/16 patients (69%) with SZA. A surprising finding was that 4/16 (25%) SZA patients were positive for the ABR profiling test for ADHD.

Conclusion:

With the ABR profiling test, a minority of patients with SZA tested positive for SZ. In contrast, a majority (85%) of patients with SZ in a previous study tested positive. These preliminary results leave us ignorant whether SZA should be regarded as a SZ-like disorder or a psychotic mood disorder and add to the questions regarding the validity of this diagnostic entity. However, the ABR profiling method is still in its infancy and its exploration in a range of psychiatric disorders is warranted.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, DJ, Rojas, DC, and Arciniegas, DB (2008) Is schizoaffective disorder a distinct categorical diagnosis? A critical review of the literature. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 4, 10891109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (2000) Task Force on D-I. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR, 4th Edn. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Babor, T.Higgins-Biddle, JC, Saunders, JB, and Monteiro, MG (2001) Audit: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Guidelines for Use in Primary Care. 2nd Edn. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 40 p.Google Scholar
First, MBB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, and Williams, JBW (1996) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Clinician Version (SCID-CV). SCID-CV (for DSM-IV) (Clinician Version). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
First, MBB, Gibbon, M, Spitzer, RL, Williams, JBW, and Benjamin, LS (1997) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders, (SCID-II). SCID-II (for DSM-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Fusar-Poli, P, Cappucciati, M, Rutigliano, G, Heslin, M, Stahl, D, Brittenden, Z, Caverzasi, E, Mc Guire, P, and Carpenter, WT (2016) Diagnostic stability of ICD/DSM first episode psychosis diagnoses: meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 42, 13951406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guy, W. (1976) Clinical global impression. In Guy W (ed) 2ECDEU Assessment Manual for Psychopharmacology, Revised Edn. Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health, pp. 217221.Google Scholar
Herlofson, J (1999) Handbook. SCID-I och SCID-II för DSM-IV. Kristianstad: Pilgrim Press.Google Scholar
Jäger, M, Haack, S, Becker, T, and Frasch, K (2010) Schizoaffective disorder – an ongoing challenge for psychiatric nosology. European Psychiatry 26, 159165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Juselius Baghdassarian, E, Nilsson Markhed, M, Lindström, E, Nilsson, BM, and Lewander, T (2018) Auditory brainstem response (ABR) profiling tests as diagnostic support for schizophrenia and adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Acta Neuropsychiatrica 30, 137147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Källstrand, J, Holmberg, J, Nehlstedt, S, and Nielzén, S (2016) Identification of brainstem biomarkers supporting clinical diagnoses of ADHD and schizophrenia using noninvasive ABR technique. EC Neurology 3, 294305.Google Scholar
Keshavan, MS, Morris, DW, Sweeney, JA, Pearlson, G, Thaker, G, Seidman, LJ, Eack, SM, and Tamminga, C (2011) A dimensional approach to the psychosis spectrum between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: the Schizo-Bipolar Scale. Schizophrenia Research 133, 250254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, DN, Crosby Quimette, P, Kelly, HS, Ferro, T, and Riso, LP (1994) Test-retest reliability of team consensus best-estimate diagnoses of axis I and II disorders in a family study. American Journal of Psychiatry 151, 10431047.Google Scholar
Lake, CR and Hurwitz, N (2006) Schizoaffective disorders are psychotic mood disorders; there are no schizoaffective disorders. Psychiatry Research 143, 255287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lake, CR and Hurwitz, N (2007) Schizoaffective disorder merges schizophrenia and bipolar disorders as one disease – there is no schizoaffective disorder. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 20, 365379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedersen, G, Hagtvet, KA, and Karterud, S (2007) Generalizability studies of the global assessment of functioning – split version. Comprehensive Psychiatry 48, 8894.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedersen, G and Karterud, S (2012) The symptom and function dimensions of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Comprehensive Psychiatry 53, 292298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santelmann, H, Franklin, J, Bußhoff, J, and Baethge, C (2015) Test–retest reliability of schizoaffective disorder compared with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar depression – a systematic review and meta-analysis. Bipolar Disorders 17, 753768.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santelmann, H, Franklin, J, Bußhoff, J, and Baethge, C. (2016) Diagnostic shift in patients diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of rediagnosis studies. Bipolar Disorders 18, 233246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saunders, JB, Aasland, OG, Babor, TF, De La Fuente, JR, and Grant, M (1993) Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption-II. Addiction 88, 791804. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sköld, M, Källstrand, J, Nehlstedt, S, Nordin, A, Nielzen, S, Holmberg, J, and Adolfsson, R (2014) Thalamocortical abnormalities in auditory brainstem response patterns distinguish DSM-IV bipolar disorder type I from schizophrenia. J Affect Disord 169, 105111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed