Bralet Marie-Cecile, Ton T, Falissard Bruno
Department of Psychiatry (Fitz-James 5), Clermont de l'Oise Mental Health Hospital, 2 rue des finets, 60600 Clermont de l'Oise, France.
Psychiatry Res. 2007 Aug 30;152(2-3):267-71. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.11.009. Epub 2007 Apr 18.
Polydipsia and water intoxication (PWI) seem to be associated with a particular form of schizophrenia, first described by Kraepelin, involving negative symptoms, disorganization and poor outcome. In this study, a group of 20 schizophrenic patients with PWI was selected and matched for age, duration of illness and gender with a group of 20 schizophrenic controls with no PWI. For these patients the following measure were obtained: clinical and demographic data, Keefe's criteria for Kraepelinian schizophrenia, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale score and the score on Fagerström's Nicotine Dependence Scale. The group of schizophrenic patients with PWI presents significantly higher levels of negative symptoms, disorganized symptoms and general symptoms of psychopathology, and it is composed of a significantly higher percentage of Kraepelinian patients. These results show an association of polydipsia and water intoxication with Kraepelinian schizophrenia suggesting physiological hypotheses for a specific pathogenic pathway.
