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Negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis
Psychiatry Research, 05/31/2012
Clinical Article
Piskulic D et al. – Early and persistent negative symptoms may represent a vulnerability for risk of developing psychosis.
Methods- Participants (n=138) were all participants in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 1) project.
- Negative symptoms were assessed longitudinally using the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms.
- The mean total negative symptom score at baseline was 11.0, with 82.0% of the sample scoring at moderate severity or above on at least one negative symptom.
- Over the course of 12months, the symptoms remained in the above moderate severity range for 54.0% of participants.
- Associations between individual symptoms were moderate, and a factor analysis confirmed that all negative symptoms loaded heavily on one factor.
- Negative symptoms were more severe and persistent overtime in those who converted to psychosis, significantly predicting the likelihood of conversion.