Impact of the symptomatic dimensions of schizophrenia on the functioning of individuals at risk for psychosis

• Grant number: 19/03555-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2019
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Andrade Loch
• Grantee: Ibrahim Ali Ayoub
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psiquiatria Doutor Antonio Carlos Pacheco e Silva (IPq). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The symptoms of schizophrenia and the psychotic syndromes have traditionally been divided in symptoms of distortion of the perception of reality and symptoms of loss of normal functions. Currently, three symptomatic dimensions are recognized: positive, negative and disorganization symptoms. According to the current paradigm, the psychotic disorders are essentially defined by its positive symptoms, although some studies propose the subtype deficit schizophrenia, defined by negative symptoms. Furthermore, it is recognized that schizophrenia is related to cognitive and functional deficits in many areas. Deficit schizophrenia has a greater impact in functioning than typical schizophrenia. However, there is a lack of studies that demonstrate the importance of the different symptomatic dimensions of psychotic disorders (positive, negative and disorganization symptoms) on the functional deficit. The current study aims to analyze the importance of the different symptomatic dimensions on functioning, testing the validity of the paradigm of positive symptoms as the main element of schizophrenia. The sample is the same as a cohort study with 2700 participants with high risk for psychosis (ultra-high risk, UHR). Our goal is a final sample of 80 UHR individuals and 40 controls. We will apply questionnaires of functioning (GAF) and of symptomatic dimensions (SIPS). Next, we will correlate the symptomatic dimensions with functioning using Spearman and Pearson's tests. Finally, we will run linear regressions with the statistically significant correlations through the software IBM SPSS 25.