Neurological abnormalities in schizophrenic patients.

A test for graphethesia and the face-hand test were performed on 84 schizophrenic inpatients: 8% of the acute-subacute group vs. 49% of the subchronic-chronic group were abnormal (p less than 0.001). Abnormalities tended to be more pronounced on the right hand, consistent with other recent lateralization findings suggesting that schizophrenia involves the left cerebral hemisphere. Those patients with positive findings had been psychotic longer and were more likely to have been referred to a psychiatrist prior to age 17. The possibility of drug-related symptoms remains a confounding issue. No differences between those who tested positive and negative were found for family history of schizophrenia, history of childhood CNS infection or trauma, premorbid asociality, CSF, EEG, or computerized axial tomography scan findings.