Department of Systems Medicine, Unit of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of neuroscience, USL Umbria 2, Terni, Italy.
Early Interv Psychiatry. 2019 Oct;13(5):1191-1198. doi: 10.1111/eip.12754. Epub 2018 Nov 26.
22q11 microdeletion syndrome has an increased risk for psychosis, similar to subjects at ultra-high risk for psychosis. Neurological soft signs are considered an endophenotype of psychotic disorders and a marker of vulnerability to Schizophrenia, consisting of overflow movements, dysrhythmia and speed of timed activities. To date, there are no studies that have evaluated the presence of the neurological soft signs in subjects with 22q11 microdeletion syndrome and there are a few studies that have analysed this issue in subjects at ultra-high risk.
We sought to measure neurological soft signs in these two conditions, compared to healthy controls and to analyse the possible correlation between neurological soft signs and positive/negative symptoms both in 22q11 microdeletion syndrome and ultra-high-risk groups. 54 drug-naive patients (29 with 22q11 microdeletion syndrome and 25 at ultra-high risk for psychosis) and 25 healthy controls were evaluated for neurological soft signs.
Both clinical groups showed a greater number of neurological soft signs compared to healthy control, although the two clinical groups did not differ for the number of neurological soft signs. Positive correlation between speed of timed activities and negative symptoms was found in subjects at ultra-high risk.
Neurological soft signs could represent a marker of atypical neurodevelopment in the two populations examined. Since we did not found a strong correlation between neurological soft signs and positive/negative symptoms, we suggest that neurological soft signs could be indicators of vulnerability to psychosis independent from the psychopathology.
22q11 微缺失综合征患者有较高的精神病发病风险，类似于精神病超高危人群。神经软体征被认为是精神障碍的一种内表型，也是精神分裂症易感性的标志物，包括溢出运动、节律紊乱和定时活动速度。迄今为止，尚无研究评估 22q11 微缺失综合征患者是否存在神经软体征，仅有少数研究分析了超高危人群中存在的神经软体征。
我们试图在这两种情况下测量神经软体征，并与健康对照组进行比较，并分析 22q11 微缺失综合征和超高危组中神经软体征与阳性/阴性症状之间的可能相关性。我们评估了 54 名未接受药物治疗的患者（29 名患有 22q11 微缺失综合征，25 名处于精神病超高危状态）和 25 名健康对照组的神经软体征。
与健康对照组相比，两个临床组的神经软体征数量均较多，但两个临床组的神经软体征数量没有差异。在超高危人群中，定时活动速度与阴性症状之间存在正相关。
神经软体征可能代表了我们所研究的两个群体中神经发育异常的标志物。由于我们没有发现神经软体征与阳性/阴性症状之间存在强烈相关性，我们认为神经软体征可能是独立于精神病理学的精神病易感性的指标。
