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This exploratory study aims to evaluate the evolution of 25 patients during the time of a treatment in a day hospital specialized for schizophrenic disorders.Method. – In a naturalistic study, eligible patients were evaluated when entering and leaving for clinical profile, psychiatric history, nosognosia and compliance.Results. – The studied population presents a clinical profile indicating illness severity. Psychiatric hospitalizations, violence and suicide attempts diminish during the time of treatment. When leaving, 60 % of patients completed an employment or training project. The overall subjects present a significant decrease in positive symptomatology and a significant improvement in nosognosia and compliance to medication. On the contrary, a subgroup of 4 patients presents little improvement.Conclusion. – The treatment in the day hospital brings positive results for the majority of patients. They present significant possibilities of evolution in several domains. The limits of the study are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Catatonia has been defined by ICD-11 as a nosologically unspecific syndrome. Previous neuropsychiatric conceptions of catatonia such as Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard's (WKL) one, have isolated chronic catatonic entities, such as progressive periodic catatonia (PPC) and chronic system catatonias (CSC). This study aimed at comparing the clinical and neuropsychological features of PPC, CSC and non-catatonic patients, all diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). The clinical and cognitive measures were compared among 53 SSD patients, first by separating catatonic (C-SSD, n = 27) and non-catatonic patients (NC-SSD, n = 26), and second, by separating PPC (n = 20), CSC (n = 6) and NC-SSD patients. Bayes factors were used to compare the model with 1 or 2 catatonic groups. We found that PPC had a more frequent schizo-affective presentation, higher levels of depression and less positive psychotic symptoms than both CSC and NC-SSD. CSC patients had an earlier illness onset, a poorer cognitive functioning, and higher antipsychotics doses than both PPC and NC-SSD. Most differences between C- and NC-SSD were accounted by characteristics of either PPC or CSC. The model with 2 catatonic groups clearly outperformed that with 1 catatonic group. Our results point to a substantial clinical heterogeneity of 'catatonia' within the SSD population and suggest that distinguishing (at least) 2 chronic catatonic phenotypes (PPC and CSC) may represent a relevant step to apprehend this heterogeneity. It is also a more parsimonious attempt than considering the around 32.000 distinct catatonic presentations resulting from the combinations of 3 out of 15 polythetic criteria for ICD-11 catatonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social metacognition is still poorly understood in schizophrenia, particularly its neuropsychological basis and its impact on insight and medication adherence. We therefore quantified social metacognition as the agreement between objective and subjective mentalization and assessed its correlates in a sample of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Participants consisted of 143 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders who underwent a metacognitive version of a mentalization task, an extensive neuropsychological battery, and a clinical evaluation to assess their insight into illness and medication adherence. We studied potential interactions between confidence judgments and several neuropsychological and clinical variables on mentalization accuracy with mixed-effects multiple logistic regressions. Confidence judgments were closely associated with mentalization accuracy, indicative of good social metacognition in this task. Working memory, visual memory, and reasoning and problem-solving were the three neuropsychological dimensions positively associated with metacognition. By contrast, the two measures of medication adherence were associated with poorer metacognition, whereas no association was found between metacognition and clinical insight. The multiple regression model showed a significant positive impact of better working memory, older age at onset, longer duration of hospitalization, and worse medication adherence on social metacognition. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the apparent association between social metacognition and working memory. Adherence should be monitored when remediating social metacognition, and psychoeducation should be given to patients with a high level of awareness of their capacity to mentalize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study is to design a questionnaire, the Versailles Metacognitive Strategies Evaluation Questionnaire, for assessing the use of metacognitive and help-seeking strategies in three key-domains of impaired daily functioning in schizophrenia. To evaluate its psychometric properties (internal consistency, factor structure, convergent and divergent validity, and stability). Design: Development of a questionnaire and psychometric validation procedure in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls. Stability over one year was assessed in the patient group. Setting: Schizophrenia Centers of Expertise (French FondaMental Network). Subjects: A total of 141 patients with schizophrenia, among whom 77 participated in the second evaluation; 97 healthy subjects. Main measures: The Versailles Metacognitive Strategies Evaluation Questionnaire, Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, Personal and Social Performance Scale, Evaluation of Cognitive Processes involved in Disability in Schizophrenia Scale, Schizophrenia Quality of Life Questionnaire, and Stages of Recovery Instrument. Results: From the 36-items version, stepwise exploratory factor analysis (oblimin) produced a 25-items scale which had a 3-factors structure (hygiene concern, social relationships, and hygiene help-seeking). Cronbach's were respectively equal to 0.91, 0.82, and 0.78. One-year stability was good (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.7). The three factors showed good convergent validity with measures of quality of life (rho = 0.34, P ⩽ 0.001). The first two factors correlated with recovery (N = 34, rho = 0.53, P ⩽ 0.001). On the contrary, the factors exhibited divergent validity, with no significant correlation, with symptoms and cognitive and psychosocial functioning (P > 0.05). Factor structure in healthy controls did not match with that of patients, all items but one were found significantly different among groups. Conclusion: The Versailles Metacognitive Strategies Evaluation Questionnaire provides a simple and valid means to assess metacognitive strategies in individuals with schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the Evaluation of Cognitive Processes involved in Disability in Schizophrenia scale (ECPDS) to discriminate for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Design: This multicentre cross-sectional study used a validation design with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Settings: The study was undertaken in a French network of seven outward referral centres. Subjects: We recruited individuals with clinically stable schizophrenia diagnosed based on the Structured Clinical Interview for assessing Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., rev.; DSM-IV-R) criteria. Main measures: The index test for cognitive impairment was ECPDS (independent variable), a 13-item scale completed by a relative of the participant. The reference standard was a standardized test battery that evaluated seven cognitive domains. Cognitive impairment was the dependent variable and was defined as an average z-score more than 1 SD below the normative mean in two or more cognitive domains. Results: Overall, 97 patients were included (67 with schizophrenia, 28 with schizoaffective disorder, and 2 with schizophreniform disorder). The mean age was 30.2 (SD 7.7) years, and there were 75 men (77.3%). There were 59 (60.8%) patients with cognitive impairment on the neuropsychological battery, and the mean ECPDS score was 27.3 (SD 7.3). The ROC curve analysis showed that the optimal ECPDS cut-off was 29.5. The area under the curve was 0.77, with 76.3% specificity and 71.1% sensitivity to discriminate against cognitive impairment. Conclusion: The ECPDS is a valid triage tool for detecting cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, before using an extensive neuropsychological battery, and holds promise for use in everyday clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functional outcome in schizophrenia spectrum disorders is affected by multiple factors such as cognitive performance and clinical symptoms. Psychiatric disability may be another important determinant of functional outcome. The purpose of this study was to test whether schizophrenia symptoms and psychiatric disability mediated the association between cognition and functioning. Between April 2013 and July 2017, we included 108 community-dwelling adults with stable schizophrenia spectrum disorder in a multicenter study. Psychiatric disability was assessed with the Evaluation of Cognitive Processes involved in Disability in Schizophrenia (ECPDS) scale by relatives of patients. ECPDS focused on the broad array of motivational, neurocognitive, sociocognitive, and metacognitive impairments that result in activity restrictions. We used a battery of tests to assess seven cognition domains (processing speed, attention/vigilance, working, verbal and visual memory, reasoning and problem solving, and executive functioning) and cross-sectional structural equation modeling (SEM) for the mediation analyses. We estimated the one-year temporal stability of ECPDS scores in 45 participants. The model provided showed good fit and explained 43.9% of the variance in functioning. The effect of neurocognition on functioning was fully mediated by symptoms (proportion mediated: 36.5%) and psychiatric disability (proportion mediated: 31.3%). The ECPDS score had acceptable one-year temporal stability. The ECPDS scale has satisfactory psychometric properties, and shows significant convergence with neurocognition and functioning, suggesting a role for this tool in the routine evaluation of cognitive remediation needs. Our model validates psychiatric disability as a crucial step from cognitive impairment to restricted participation in life situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bardet-Biedl syndrome ( BBS) is a well-recognized ciliopathy characterized by cardinal features namely: early onset retinitis pigmentosa, polydactyly, obesity, hypogonadism, renal and cognitive impairment. Recently, disorders of olfaction (anosmia, hyposmia) have been also described in BBS patients. Moreover, morphological brain anomalies have been reported and prompt for further investigations to determine whether they are primary or secondary to peripheral organ involvement (i.e. visual or olfactory neuronal tissue). The objective of this article is to evaluate olfactory disorders in BBS patients and to investigate putative correlation with morphological cerebral anomalies. To this end, 20 BBS patients were recruited and evaluated for olfaction using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test ( UPSIT). All of them underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) scan. We first investigated brain morphological differences between BBS subjects and 14 healthy volunteers. Then, we showed objective olfaction disorders in BBS patients and highlight correlation between gray matter volume reduction and olfaction dysfunction in several brain areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]