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Neurological soft signs and their relationship to 1-year outcome in first-episode schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Radovan Prikryl ,
Eva Ceskova ,
Tomas Kasparek  and
Hana Kucerova
Radovan Prikryl*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital, Jihlavska 20, 625 00Brno, Czech Republic
Eva Ceskova
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital, Jihlavska 20, 625 00Brno, Czech Republic
Tomas Kasparek
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital, Jihlavska 20, 625 00Brno, Czech Republic
Hana Kucerova
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital, Jihlavska 20, 625 00Brno, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +42 0532232055; fax: +42 0532233706. E-mail address: radovan.prikryl@post.cz (R. Prikryl).
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Abstract

Objectives

To examine the relationship between the severity of neurological soft signs at onset and at the 1-year follow-up of patients with schizophrenia, and to investigate temporal stability of neurological soft signs within 1 year from the onset of the first episode schizophrenia.

Methods

The study included 92 first-episode male schizophrenic patients. Neurological soft signs were assessed on the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES) during index hospitalization and at a 1-year follow-up. The patients were divided into remitters and non-remitters according to their psychiatric status assessed at the 1-year follow-up, using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Results

A trend for a lower score for the NES item “others” in late remitters versus non-remitters at baseline was found during index hospitalization. At the 1-year follow-up, the overall severity of the neurological soft signs was statistically significantly higher in non-remitters than in remitters. Within 1 year after index hospitalization, a significant reduction of neurological soft signs, with the exception of sensory integration, occurred in remitters. Within 1 year after index hospitalization, the non-remitters reported a significant reduction of the overall NES score.

Conclusion

These findings in a population of patients with first episode schizophrenia are in accord with the findings of previous studies which found an association between neurological soft signs, treatment response and outcome. This association may characterize a subgroup of patients with a poor course of illness and outcome. Neurological soft signs might be regarded as one of the indicators of treatment outcome in patients suffering from their first episode of schizophrenia.

Keywords

First episodeNeurologySchizophreniaSoft signs
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 22 , Issue 8 , November 2007 , pp. 499 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2007

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