Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, P.le L.A. Scuro, 10 37134 Verona, Italy.
Psychiatry Res. 2012 Dec 30;200(2-3):137-43. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.05.006. Epub 2012 May 29.
People with schizophrenia show a broad range of neurocognitive deficits, which are considered as core features of the disorder and are thought to be partly heritable. Similar deficits, albeit at a lesser degree, have been also found in their healthy biological relatives. These deficits, if better characterized, might represent underlying vulnerable traits for psychosis.
This case-control study compared neurocognitive functioning of adult first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (SCZ-RELs) (n=55) with healthy control subjects (n=55) and explored its association with the negative symptoms. Subjects in both study and control group were assessed with an extensive neurocognitive test battery (Trail Making test, Phonemic Verbal fluency, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Bushke Fuld Test, Stroop Test, n-Back and Digit span) and a set of clinical measures (SANS, GAF and DAS).
SCZ-RELs were more significantly impaired on executive function tasks (i.e. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Phonemic Verbal fluency) and displayed significantly more severe negative symptoms and poorer social functioning than control subjects. Significant correlations between neurocognitive measures and negative symptoms were found in the study group, whereas no significant correlations were detected among the controls.
Subtle executive impairments, associated with negative symptoms, are shown to be evident in healthy relatives of patients with schizophrenia. These deficits, which reflect subtle dysfunction in concept formation, flexibility and mental shifting, may be seen as potential phenotypic markers of vulnerability for schizophrenia. This raises the question of underlying prefrontal dysfunction as core feature of the disorder.
精神分裂症患者表现出广泛的神经认知缺陷，这些缺陷被认为是该疾病的核心特征，部分是遗传的。在他们的健康生物学亲属中也发现了类似的缺陷，尽管程度较轻。如果这些缺陷得到更好的描述，它们可能代表精神分裂症的潜在脆弱特征。
本病例对照研究比较了精神分裂症患者（SCZ-RELs）（n=55）的成年一级亲属（SCZ-RELs）和健康对照组（n=55）的神经认知功能，并探讨了其与阴性症状的关系。两组研究对象均接受了广泛的神经认知测试（Trail Making 测试、语音流畅性、威斯康星卡片分类测试、Bushke 完全测试、Stroop 测试、n-Back 和数字跨度）和一系列临床测量（SANS、GAF 和 DAS）。
SCZ-RELs 在执行功能任务（即威斯康星卡片分类测试和语音流畅性）上表现出更明显的损伤，并且与对照组相比，表现出更严重的阴性症状和更差的社会功能。在研究组中发现神经认知测量与阴性症状之间存在显著相关性，而对照组中未检测到显著相关性。
与阴性症状相关的轻微执行功能障碍在精神分裂症患者的健康亲属中表现明显。这些缺陷反映了概念形成、灵活性和心理转换方面的细微功能障碍，可能被视为精神分裂症易感性的潜在表型标志物。这引发了一个问题，即潜在的前额叶功能障碍是否是该疾病的核心特征。
