- Email: [email protected]
0433 PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE CLINICAL AND PATIENT VERSION OF THE APATHY EVALUATION SCALE
S110
Schizophrenia Research 86 (2006)
115 consecutive referrals to CAMEO, a specialist early intervention service in South Cambridgeshire. Subjects were included if they were diagnosed as having either mania with psychotic symptoms (n = 45) or schizophreniform psychosis(n = 70). Groups were compared by diagnostic type, as well as by nature of psychotic symptoms (mood congruent/incongruent). Results: Patients’ cognitive functions were heterogenous. There was no significant groupwise difference between those with manic psychosis and those with schizophreniform psychosis in cognitive functioning. However when groups were compared by nature of psychotic symptoms (mood congruent/incongruent) there was significant difference, with those with mood incongruent psychotic symptoms performing worse on measures of the CANTAB subtests. Discussion: Our findings in this sample of young, first episode psychotic patients support the hypotheses that subjects with bipolar disorder and incongruent psychotic symptoms are a distinct diagnostic group, with cognitive functioning more akin to those with schizophrenia than those with bipolar disorder and mood congruent psychotic symptoms. Further follow up of this group is required to establish diagnostic stability in these patients over time, and illness course. 0402 PREMORBID ASSESSMENTS OF PATIENTS WITH FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS N. Salesian *, J. Alaghband-rad, J. Mahmoudi. Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, Iran Presenting author contact: [email protected] Introduction: We have done the premorbid assessments of our patients to compare premorbid patterns of first episode non-affective and affective psychoses. Methods: Consecutive patients with first-episode psychosis are assessed using the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). Data are collected from patient interviews after recovery from the psychotic episode (or at follow-up visits), families, and chart reviews. Results: As of now, twenty-two patients have been assessed. Patients were divided into non-affective [schizophrenia/schizoaffective (n = 9), brief psychosis (n = 1), delusional disorder (n = 1)] and affective [bipolar I disorder (n = 10), major depressive disorder with psychotic features (n = 1)] based on DSM-IV diagnoses at discharge. Mean ages of the non-affective and affective groups were 27.5 and 24.8 years, respectively; 63.6% in each group were male. Average PAS scores of Childhood (C), Early Adolescence (EA), Late Adolescence (LA), and Adulthood (A) were respectively 0.17, 0.25, 0.39 (n = 10), 0.46 (n = 6), in the non-affective group. Average PAS scores C, EA, LA, and A were respectively 0.24, 0.19, 0.29 (n = 8), 0.11 (n = 5) in the affective group. Discussion: Despite some difference between the preliminary PAS scores of the non-affective and affective groups, due to the small number of patients, results are still inconclusive. Findings are very likely to change as the study is in progress. 0433 PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE CLINICAL AND PATIENT VERSION OF THE APATHY EVALUATION SCALE A. Faerden *, R. Nesv˚ag, I. Agartz, E. Barreth, A. Finseth, S. Friis, I. Melle. 1 Ullev˚al University Hospital, Oslo, Norway,
Abstracts 2 Diakonhjemmet
Hospital, Oslo, Norway, 3 University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 4 Aker University Hospital, Oslo, Norway Presenting author contact: [email protected] The different symptoms of the negative syndrome have received attention lately, and apathy has been one of interest. Apathy has been difficult to study because of the lack of a specific rating scale. The Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) was developed by Marin for people with Alzheimer’s disease, and has been used to measure apathy in different neuropsychiatric diseases. It was recently used in a study of people with schizophrenia but has never been used in a population of first episode patients. The purpose of this study is to show the psychometric properties of the Apathy Evaluation Scale in first episode patients. Material and Methods: Material: This study reports the first 58 patients with first episode non-organic psychosis participants in the TOP study, a multi-site Norwegian study. Methods: The AES is an 18-item scale that defines apathy as a simultaneous diminution in the overt behavioural, cognitive and emotional components of goal directed behaviour. The AES consists of three versions. Clinical (C), self rated (S) and informant (I). The AES-C is based on a clinical interview and criteria with a 4-point likert scale resulting in a sum score of 18−72; higher score indicating more apathy. Principal factor analysis will be performed to study the psychometric properties, using the SPSS version 13. Results: The AES in this study showed good internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s a = 0.91 for the C version and a = 0.83 for the S version. There was good correlation between AES-C and AES-P (r = 0.681, p < 0.000). Discussion: The AES has good psychometric properties. It can be used to measure apathy in people with first episode psychosis. Data are preliminary; more will be presented at the meeting. 0468 IMPLICIT MEMORY AND SCHIZOPHRENIA M.-J. Dubuc, J. Forget, J.-P. Mottard *, M. Lassonde, A. Breault, N.C. Bedwani, R. Godbout, N. Lessard. Hˆopital Sacr´e-Coeur, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Presenting author contact: [email protected] Individuals with schizophrenia show relatively intact implicit memory compared to a perturbed declarative memory. Skill learning as well as priming are the most frequently used tasks to assess implicit memory. According to the model developed by Squire (1992), distinct neural networks are involved in skill learning and priming. While priming is thought to involve storage changes in the posterior neocortex (Schacter & Buckner, 1998), various forms of skill learning may depend upon the integrity of the corticostriatal pathway in association with structures of the extrapyramidal system (Gaffan, 1996) and the cerebellum (Doyon et al., 1996). Since schizophrenia underly fronto-striatal dysfunctions we hypothesized that schizophrenic patients should exhibit disturbance in skill learning and preserved priming. This was tested in 21 patients (11 first psychotic episode; 10 schizophrenic) and 10 matched controls using two visuoperceptual tasks. The procedural learning task consisted of 5 training sessions each including 32 pictures that appeared as a series of fragmented images, each image containing 8 levels of completion: level 1 was the most fragmented and level 8 represented the most complete picture. Subjects were asked to identify the picture and the procedural learning score were obtained by a reduction of identification level throughout sessions. The priming task consisted in the presentation of 32 images randomly selected from the 160
Schizophrenia Research 86 (2006)
115 consecutive referrals to CAMEO, a specialist early intervention service in South Cambridgeshire. Subjects were included if they were diagnosed as having either mania with psychotic symptoms (n = 45) or schizophreniform psychosis(n = 70). Groups were compared by diagnostic type, as well as by nature of psychotic symptoms (mood congruent/incongruent). Results: Patients’ cognitive functions were heterogenous. There was no significant groupwise difference between those with manic psychosis and those with schizophreniform psychosis in cognitive functioning. However when groups were compared by nature of psychotic symptoms (mood congruent/incongruent) there was significant difference, with those with mood incongruent psychotic symptoms performing worse on measures of the CANTAB subtests. Discussion: Our findings in this sample of young, first episode psychotic patients support the hypotheses that subjects with bipolar disorder and incongruent psychotic symptoms are a distinct diagnostic group, with cognitive functioning more akin to those with schizophrenia than those with bipolar disorder and mood congruent psychotic symptoms. Further follow up of this group is required to establish diagnostic stability in these patients over time, and illness course. 0402 PREMORBID ASSESSMENTS OF PATIENTS WITH FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS N. Salesian *, J. Alaghband-rad, J. Mahmoudi. Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, Iran Presenting author contact: [email protected] Introduction: We have done the premorbid assessments of our patients to compare premorbid patterns of first episode non-affective and affective psychoses. Methods: Consecutive patients with first-episode psychosis are assessed using the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). Data are collected from patient interviews after recovery from the psychotic episode (or at follow-up visits), families, and chart reviews. Results: As of now, twenty-two patients have been assessed. Patients were divided into non-affective [schizophrenia/schizoaffective (n = 9), brief psychosis (n = 1), delusional disorder (n = 1)] and affective [bipolar I disorder (n = 10), major depressive disorder with psychotic features (n = 1)] based on DSM-IV diagnoses at discharge. Mean ages of the non-affective and affective groups were 27.5 and 24.8 years, respectively; 63.6% in each group were male. Average PAS scores of Childhood (C), Early Adolescence (EA), Late Adolescence (LA), and Adulthood (A) were respectively 0.17, 0.25, 0.39 (n = 10), 0.46 (n = 6), in the non-affective group. Average PAS scores C, EA, LA, and A were respectively 0.24, 0.19, 0.29 (n = 8), 0.11 (n = 5) in the affective group. Discussion: Despite some difference between the preliminary PAS scores of the non-affective and affective groups, due to the small number of patients, results are still inconclusive. Findings are very likely to change as the study is in progress. 0433 PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE CLINICAL AND PATIENT VERSION OF THE APATHY EVALUATION SCALE A. Faerden *, R. Nesv˚ag, I. Agartz, E. Barreth, A. Finseth, S. Friis, I. Melle. 1 Ullev˚al University Hospital, Oslo, Norway,
Abstracts 2 Diakonhjemmet
Hospital, Oslo, Norway, 3 University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 4 Aker University Hospital, Oslo, Norway Presenting author contact: [email protected] The different symptoms of the negative syndrome have received attention lately, and apathy has been one of interest. Apathy has been difficult to study because of the lack of a specific rating scale. The Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) was developed by Marin for people with Alzheimer’s disease, and has been used to measure apathy in different neuropsychiatric diseases. It was recently used in a study of people with schizophrenia but has never been used in a population of first episode patients. The purpose of this study is to show the psychometric properties of the Apathy Evaluation Scale in first episode patients. Material and Methods: Material: This study reports the first 58 patients with first episode non-organic psychosis participants in the TOP study, a multi-site Norwegian study. Methods: The AES is an 18-item scale that defines apathy as a simultaneous diminution in the overt behavioural, cognitive and emotional components of goal directed behaviour. The AES consists of three versions. Clinical (C), self rated (S) and informant (I). The AES-C is based on a clinical interview and criteria with a 4-point likert scale resulting in a sum score of 18−72; higher score indicating more apathy. Principal factor analysis will be performed to study the psychometric properties, using the SPSS version 13. Results: The AES in this study showed good internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s a = 0.91 for the C version and a = 0.83 for the S version. There was good correlation between AES-C and AES-P (r = 0.681, p < 0.000). Discussion: The AES has good psychometric properties. It can be used to measure apathy in people with first episode psychosis. Data are preliminary; more will be presented at the meeting. 0468 IMPLICIT MEMORY AND SCHIZOPHRENIA M.-J. Dubuc, J. Forget, J.-P. Mottard *, M. Lassonde, A. Breault, N.C. Bedwani, R. Godbout, N. Lessard. Hˆopital Sacr´e-Coeur, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Presenting author contact: [email protected] Individuals with schizophrenia show relatively intact implicit memory compared to a perturbed declarative memory. Skill learning as well as priming are the most frequently used tasks to assess implicit memory. According to the model developed by Squire (1992), distinct neural networks are involved in skill learning and priming. While priming is thought to involve storage changes in the posterior neocortex (Schacter & Buckner, 1998), various forms of skill learning may depend upon the integrity of the corticostriatal pathway in association with structures of the extrapyramidal system (Gaffan, 1996) and the cerebellum (Doyon et al., 1996). Since schizophrenia underly fronto-striatal dysfunctions we hypothesized that schizophrenic patients should exhibit disturbance in skill learning and preserved priming. This was tested in 21 patients (11 first psychotic episode; 10 schizophrenic) and 10 matched controls using two visuoperceptual tasks. The procedural learning task consisted of 5 training sessions each including 32 pictures that appeared as a series of fragmented images, each image containing 8 levels of completion: level 1 was the most fragmented and level 8 represented the most complete picture. Subjects were asked to identify the picture and the procedural learning score were obtained by a reduction of identification level throughout sessions. The priming task consisted in the presentation of 32 images randomly selected from the 160