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Neurological soft signs precede the onset of schizophrenia: a study of individuals with schizotypy, ultra-high-risk individuals, and first-onset schizophrenia

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European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Neurological soft signs (NSS) are one of the biomarkers for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, a few studies have examined the prevalence of NSS across the schizophrenia spectrum. The present study adopted a quasi-longitudinal study design and examined the prevalence of NSS and their associations with clinical and behavioural manifestations in participants in different stages of the illness. The abridged version of the Cambridge Neurological Inventory was administered to 39 patients with the first-episode schizophrenia, 39 individuals with ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis, 39 individuals with schizotypy, and 39 healthy controls. Patients with the first-episode schizophrenia had a higher prevalence of NSS in motor coordination than healthy controls as well as individuals with UHR and schizotypy. Individuals with UHR exhibited a higher prevalence of sensory integration items than individuals with schizotypy and healthy controls. Discriminant analysis classified the membership of the individuals correctly across the spectrum with an accuracy of up to 60.9%. In particular, NSS could discriminate individuals with UHR from healthy controls at up to 85.9% accuracy. These findings suggest that NSS are robust biomarkers to detect and discriminate individuals in different stages of the schizophrenia spectrum from healthy controls.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the National Basic Research Programme of China (Precision Psychiatry Program) (2016YFC0906402), the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission Grant (Z161100000216138), the Beijing Training Project for the Leading Talents in S and T (Z151100000315020), The Science Foundation of Shanghai Mental Health Centre (SMHCRSD01), and a donation from the Philip K.H. Wong Foundation granted to Castle Peak Hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Translational Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 600 Wanping South Road, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Raymond C. K. Chan & Min-yi Chu

  2. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Raymond C. K. Chan, Ya Wang, Yi Wang, Zhi Li & Simon S. Y. Lui

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Raymond C. K. Chan & Zhi Li

  4. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Hui-ru Cui, Tian-hong Zhang & Ji-jun Wang

  5. Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administration Region, Hong Kong, China

    Simon S. Y. Lui & Eric F. C. Cheung

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  1. Raymond C. K. Chan
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Correspondence to Raymond C. K. Chan.

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Chan, R.C.K., Cui, Hr., Chu, My. et al. Neurological soft signs precede the onset of schizophrenia: a study of individuals with schizotypy, ultra-high-risk individuals, and first-onset schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 268, 49–56 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0828-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0828-4

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