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Background and hypothesisNegative symptom trajectory in clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis is ill defined. This study aimed to better characterize longitudinal patterns of change in negative symptoms, moderators of change, and differences in trajectories according to clinical subgroups. We hypothesized that negative symptom course will be nonlinear in CHR. Clinical subgroups known to be more severe variants of psychotic illness-deficit syndrome (DS), persistent negative syndrome (PNS), and acute psychosis onset-were expected to show more severe baseline symptoms, slower rates of change, and less stable rates of symptom resolution.Study designLinear, curvilinear, and stepwise growth curve models, with and without moderators, were fitted to negative symptom ratings from the NAPLS-3 CHR dataset (N = 699) and within clinical subgroups.Study resultsNegative symptoms followed a downward curvilinear trend, with marked improvement 0-6 months that subsequently stabilized (6-24 months), particularly among those with lower IQ and functioning. Clinical subgroups had higher baseline ratings, but distinct symptom courses; DS vs non-DS: more rapid initial improvement, similar stability of improvements; PNS vs non-PNS: similar rates of initial improvement and stability; transition vs no transition: slower rate of initial improvement, with greater stability of this rate.ConclusionsContinuous, frequent monitoring of negative symptoms in CHR is justified by 2 important study implications: (1) The initial 6 months of CHR program enrollment may be a key window for improving negative symptoms as less improvement is likely afterwards, (2) Early identification of clinical subgroups may inform distinct negative symptom trajectories and treatment needs.

IntroductionPersistent negative symptoms (PNS) are described as continuing moderate negative symptoms. More severe negative symptoms have been associated with poor premorbid functioning in both chronic schizophrenia and first episode psychosis patients. Furthermore, youth at clinical high risk (CHR) for developing psychosis may also present with negative symptoms and poor premorbid functioning. The aim of this current study was to: (1) define the relationship between PNS and premorbid functioning, life events, trauma and bullying, previous cannabis use, and resource utilization, and (2) to examine what explanatory variables best predicted PNS.MethodCHR participants (N = 709) were recruited from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 2). Participants were divided into two groups: those with PNS (n = 67) versus those without PNS (n = 673). A K-means cluster analysis was conducted to distinguish patterns of premorbid functioning across the different developmental stages. The relationships between premorbid adjustment and other variables were examined using independent samples t-tests or chi square for categorical variables.ResultsThere was significantly more males in the PNS group. Participants with PNS had significantly lower levels of premorbid adjustment in childhood, early adolescence, and late adolescence, compared to CHR participants without PNS. There were no differences between the groups in terms of trauma, bullying, and resource utilization. The non-PNS group had more cannabis use and more desirable and non-desirable life events.ConclusionIn terms of better understanding relationships between early factors and PNS, a prominent factor associated with PNS was premorbid functioning, in particular poor premorbid functioning in later adolescence.

AimsYoung people with attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS), brief intermittent psychosis, and/or genetic risk and functional deterioration are at high risk for developing psychotic disorders. In a prior trial, family-focused therapy for clinical high risk youth (FFT-CHR) was more effective than brief psychoeducation in reducing APS severity over 6 months. This 7-site trial will compare the efficacy of FFT-CHR to a psychoeducational and supportive intervention (enhanced care) on APS and social functioning in CHR individuals over 18 months.MethodsParticipants (N = 220, ages 13-25 years) with a CHR syndrome will be randomly assigned to FFT-CHR (18 1-h sessions of family psychoeducation and communication/problem-solving skills training) or enhanced care (3 1-h family psychoeducational sessions followed by 5 individual support sessions), both given over 6 months. Participants will rate their weekly progress during treatment using a mobile-enhanced online platform. Family communication will be assessed in a laboratory interactional task at baseline and post-treatment. Independent evaluators will assess APS (primary outcome) and psychosocial functioning (secondary outcome) every 6 months over 18 months.ResultsWe hypothesize that, compared to enhanced care, FFT-CHR will be associated with greater improvements in APS and psychosocial functioning over 18 months. Secondarily, improvements in family communication over 6 months will mediate the relationship between treatment condition and primary and secondary outcomes over 18 months. The effects of FFT-CHR are predicted to be greater in individuals with higher baseline risk for psychosis conversion.ConclusionsResults of the trial will inform treatment guidelines for individuals at high risk for psychosis.

IntroductionArea-level residential instability (ARI), an index of social fragmentation, has been shown to explain the association between urbanicity and psychosis. Urban upbringing has been shown to be associated with reduced gray matter volumes (GMV)s of brain regions corresponding to the right caudal middle frontal gyrus (CMFG) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). We hypothesize that greater ARI will be associated with reduced right CMFG and rACC GMVs.MethodsData were collected at baseline as part of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study Phase 2. Counties where participants resided during childhood were geographically coded using the US Census to area-level factors. ARI was defined as the percentage of residents living in a different house 5 years ago. Generalized linear mixed models tested associations between ARI and GMVs.ResultsThis study included 29 healthy controls (HC)s and 64 clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) individuals who were aged 12 to 24 years, had remained in their baseline residential area, and had magnetic resonance imaging scans. ARI was associated with reduced right CMFG (adjusted β = -0.258; 95% CI = -0.502 to -0.015) and right rACC volumes (adjusted β = -0.318; 95% CI = -0.612 to -0.023). The interaction term (ARI-by-diagnostic group) in the prediction of both brain regions was not significant, indicating that the relationships between ARI and regional brain volumes held for both CHR-P and HCs.ConclusionsARI may adversely impact similar brain regions as urban upbringing. Further investigation into the potential mechanisms of the relationship between ARI and neurobiology, including social stress, is needed.

The clinical high-risk period before a first episode of psychosis (CHR-P) has been widely studied with the goal of understanding the development of psychosis; however, less attention has been paid to the 75%-80% of CHR-P individuals who do not transition to psychosis. It is an open question whether multivariable models could be developed to predict remission outcomes at the same level of performance and generalizability as those that predict conversion to psychosis. Participants were drawn from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS3). An empirically derived set of clinical and demographic predictor variables were selected with elastic net regularization and were included in a gradient boosting machine algorithm to predict prodromal symptom remission. The predictive model was tested in a comparably sized independent sample (NAPLS2). The classification algorithm developed in NAPLS3 achieved an area under the curve of 0.66 (0.60-0.72) with a sensitivity of 0.68 and specificity of 0.53 when tested in an independent external sample (NAPLS2). Overall, future remitters had lower baseline prodromal symptoms than nonremitters. This study is the first to use a data-driven machine-learning approach to assess clinical and demographic predictors of symptomatic remission in individuals who do not convert to psychosis. The predictive power of the models in this study suggest that remission represents a unique clinical phenomenon. Further study is warranted to best understand factors contributing to resilience and recovery from the CHR-P state.

IntroductionDisturbed sleep is a common feature of psychotic disorders that is also present in the clinical high risk (CHR) state. Evidence suggests a potential role of sleep disturbance in symptom progression, yet the interrelationship between sleep and CHR symptoms remains to be determined. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the association between disturbed sleep and CHR symptoms over time.MethodsData were obtained from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS)-3 consortium, including 688 CHR individuals and 94 controls (mean age 18.25, 46% female) for whom sleep was tracked prospectively for 8 months. We used Cox regression analyses to investigate whether sleep disturbances predicted conversion to psychosis up to >2 years later. With regressions and cross-lagged panel models, we analyzed longitudinal and bidirectional associations between sleep (the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in conjunction with additional sleep items) and CHR symptoms. We also investigated the independent contribution of individual sleep characteristics on CHR symptom domains separately and explored whether cognitive impairments, stress, depression, and psychotropic medication affected the associations.ResultsDisturbed sleep at baseline did not predict conversion to psychosis. However, sleep disturbance was strongly correlated with heightened CHR symptoms over time. Depression accounted for half of the association between sleep and symptoms. Importantly, sleep was a significant predictor of CHR symptoms but not vice versa, although bidirectional effect sizes were similar.DiscussionThe critical role of sleep disturbance in CHR symptom changes suggests that sleep may be a promising intervention target to moderate outcome in the CHR state.

Subtle alterations in white matter microstructure are observed in youth at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. However, the timing of these changes and their relationships to the emergence of psychosis remain unclear. Here, we track the evolution of white matter abnormalities in a large, longitudinal cohort of CHR individuals comprising the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS-3). Multi-shell diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data were collected across multiple timepoints (1-5 over 1 year) in 286 subjects (aged 12-32 years): 25 CHR individuals who transitioned to psychosis (CHR-P; 61 scans), 205 CHR subjects with unknown transition outcome after the 1-year follow-up period (CHR-U; 596 scans), and 56 healthy controls (195 scans). Linear mixed effects models were fitted to infer the impact of age and illness-onset on variation in the fractional anisotropy of cellular tissue (FAT) and the volume fraction of extracellular free water (FW). Baseline measures of white matter microstructure did not differentiate between HC, CHR-U and CHR-P individuals. However, age trajectories differed between the three groups in line with a developmental effect: CHR-P and CHR-U groups displayed higher FAT in adolescence, and 4% lower FAT by 30 years of age compared to controls. Furthermore, older CHR-P subjects (20+ years) displayed 4% higher FW in the forceps major (p

ObjectiveMany psychotropic medications used to treat schizophrenia have significant anticholinergic properties, which are linked to cognitive impairment and dementia risk in healthy subjects. Clarifying the impact of cognitive impairment attributable to anticholinergic medication burden may help optimize cognitive outcomes in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to comprehensively characterize how this burden affects functioning across multiple cognitive domains in schizophrenia outpatients.MethodsCross-sectional data were analyzed using inferential statistics and exploratory structural equation modeling to determine the relationship between anticholinergic medication burden and cognition. Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (N=1,120) were recruited from the community at five U.S. universities as part of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia-2. For each participant, prescribed medications were rated and summed according to a modified Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale. Cognitive functioning was assessed by performance on domains of the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PCNB).ResultsACB score was significantly associated with cognitive performance, with higher ACB groups scoring worse than lower ACB groups on all domains tested on the PCNB. Similar effects were seen on other cognitive tests. Effects remained significant after controlling for demographic characteristics and potential proxies of illness severity, including clinical symptoms and chlorpromazine-equivalent antipsychotic dosage.ConclusionsAnticholinergic medication burden in schizophrenia is substantial, common, conferred by multiple medication classes, and associated with cognitive impairments across all cognitive domains. Anticholinergic medication burden from all medication classes-including psychotropics used in usual care-should be considered in treatment decisions and accounted for in studies of cognitive functioning in schizophrenia.

Psychotic symptoms are not only an important feature of severe neuropsychiatric disorders, but are also common in the general population, especially in youth. The genetic etiology of psychosis symptoms in youth remains poorly understood. To characterize genetic risk for psychosis spectrum symptoms (PS), we leverage a community-based multiethnic sample of children and adolescents aged 8-22 years, the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (n = 7225, 20% PS). Using an elastic net regression model, we aim to classify PS status using polygenic scores (PGS) based on a range of heritable psychiatric and brain-related traits in a multi-PGS model. We also perform univariate PGS associations and evaluate age-specific effects. The multi-PGS analyses do not improve prediction of PS status over univariate models, but reveal that the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) PGS is robustly and uniquely associated with PS (OR 1.12 (1.05, 1.18) P = 0.0003). This association is driven by subjects of European ancestry (OR = 1.23 (1.14, 1.34), P = 4.15 × 10-7) but is not observed in African American subjects (P = 0.65). We find a significant interaction of ADHD PGS with age (P = 0.01), with a stronger association in younger children. The association is independent of phenotypic overlap between ADHD and PS, not indirectly driven by substance use or childhood trauma, and appears to be specific to PS rather than reflecting general psychopathology in youth. In an independent sample, we replicate an increased ADHD PGS in 328 youth at clinical high risk for psychosis, compared to 216 unaffected controls (OR 1.06, CI(1.01, 1.11), P = 0.02). Our findings suggest that PS in youth may reflect a different genetic etiology than psychotic symptoms in adulthood, one more akin to ADHD, and shed light on how genetic risk can be investigated across early disease trajectories.

BackgroundMalhi et al. in this issue critique the clinical high risk (CHR) syndrome for psychosis.MethodResponse to points of critique.ResultsWe agree that inconsistency in CHR nomenclature should be minimized. We respectfully disagree on other points. In our view: a) individuals with CHR and their families need help, using existing interventions, even though we do not yet fully understand disease mechanisms; b) substantial progress has been made in identification of biomarkers; c) symptoms used to identify CHR are specific to psychotic illnesses; d) CHR diagnosis is not "extremely difficult"; e) the pattern of progression, although heterogenous, is discernible; f) "psychosis-like symptoms" are common but are not used to identify CHR; and g) on the point described as 'the real risk,' CHR diagnosis does not frequently cause harmful stigma.DiscussionMalhi et al.'s arguments do not fairly characterize progress in the CHR field nor efforts to minimize stigma. That said, much work remains in areas of consistent nomenclature, mechanisms of disease, dissecting heterogeneity, and biomarkers. With regard to what the authors term the "real risk" of stigma associated with a CHR "label," however, our view is that avoiding words like "risk" and "psychosis" reinforces the stigma that both they and we mean to oppose. Moreover, patients and their families benefit from being given a term that describes what is happening to them.

Comorbid diagnoses are common in youth who are at clinical high-risk (CHR) for developing psychosis, with depression being the most common. The aim of this paper is to examine depression over two years in a large sample of CHR youth who do not make the transition to psychosis, considering both categorical and dimensional ratings of depression severity. The sample consisted of 267 CHR youth who were followed for two years. Based on DSM-IV diagnoses over this time period, 100 CHR individuals never received a diagnosis of depression, 64 individuals continuously met criteria for depression, 92 individuals received a diagnosis of depression at one or more timepoints, and 11 participants had a diagnosis of depression only at 24-months. These groupings were supported by six-monthly ratings on the Calgary Depression Scale. The majority of this sample experienced a major depressive episode on more than one occasion, suggesting that depression and depressive symptoms identify a domain of substantial unmet clinical need. Recommendations are that depression in CHR youth and young adults should be monitored more frequently and that there is a need for clinical trials to address depression systematically in this vulnerable population.

Psychosis rates in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are 5-35% higher than in the general population. The overlap in sensory and attentional processing abnormalities highlights the possibility of related neurobiological substrates. Previous research has shown that several electroencephalography (EEG)-derived event-related potential (ERP) components that are abnormal in schizophrenia, including P300, are also abnormal in individuals at Clinical High Risk (CHR) for psychosis and predict conversion to psychosis. Yet, it is unclear whether P300 is similarly sensitive to psychosis risk in help-seeking CHR individuals with ASD history. In this exploratory study, we leveraged data from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS2) to probe for the first time EEG markers of longitudinal psychosis profiles in ASD. Specifically, we investigated the P300 ERP component and its sensitivity to psychosis conversion across CHR groups with (ASD+) and without (ASD-) comorbid ASD. Baseline EEG data were analyzed from 304 CHR patients (14 ASD+; 290 ASD-) from the NAPLS2 cohort who were followed longitudinally over two years. We examined P300 amplitude to infrequent Target (10%; P3b) and Novel distractor (10%; P3a) stimuli from visual and auditory oddball tasks. Whereas P300 amplitude attenuation is typically characteristic of CHR and predictive of conversion to psychosis in non-ASD sample, in our sample, history of ASD moderated this relationship such that, in CHR/ASD+ individuals, enhanced - rather than attenuated - visual P300 (regardless of stimulus type) was associated with psychosis conversion. This pattern was also seen for auditory P3b amplitude to Target stimuli. Though drawn from a small sample of CHR individuals with ASD, these preliminary results point to a paradoxical effect, wherein those with both CHR and ASD history who go on to develop psychosis have a unique pattern of enhanced neural response during attention orienting to both visual and target stimuli. Such a pattern stands out from the usual finding of P300 amplitude reductions predicting psychosis in non-ASD CHR populations and warrants follow up in larger scale, targeted, longitudinal studies of those with ASD at clinical high risk for psychosis.

BackgroundLatency of the acoustic startle reflex is the time from presentation of the startling stimulus until the response, and provides an index of neural processing speed. Schizophrenia subjects exhibit slowed latency compared to healthy controls. One prior publication reported significant heritability of latency. The current study was undertaken to replicate and extend this solitary finding in a larger cohort.MethodsSchizophrenia probands, their relatives, and control subjects from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) were tested in a paradigm to ascertain magnitude, latency, and prepulse inhibition of startle. Trial types in the paradigm were: pulse-alone, and trials with 30, 60, or 120 ms between the prepulse and pulse. Comparisons of subject groups were conducted with ANCOVAs to assess startle latency and magnitude. Heritability of startle magnitude and latency was analyzed with a variance component method implemented in SOLAR v.4.3.1.Results980 subjects had analyzable startle results: 199 schizophrenia probands, 456 of their relatives, and 325 controls. A mixed-design ANCOVA on startle latency in the four trial types was significant for subject group (F(2,973) = 4.45, p = 0.012) such that probands were slowest, relatives were intermediate and controls were fastest. Magnitude to pulse-alone trials differed significantly between groups by ANCOVA (F(2,974) = 3.92, p = 0.020) such that controls were lowest, probands highest, and relatives intermediate. Heritability was significant (p

Abstract Background Studies in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis provide a powerful means to predict outcomes and inform putative mechanisms underlying conversion to psychosis. In previous work, we applied advanced diffusion imaging methods to reveal that white matter pathology in a CHR population is characterized by cellular-specific changes in white matter, suggesting a preexisting neurodevelopmental anomaly. However, it remains unknown whether these deficits relate to clinical symptoms and/or conversion to frank psychosis. To address this gap, we examined cross-sectional and longitudinal white matter maturation in the largest imaging population of CHR individuals to date, obtained from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS-3). Methods Multi-shell diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were collected across multiple timepoints (1–6 at ~2 month intervals) in 286 subjects (age range=12–32 years). These were 230 unmedicated CHR subjects, including 11% (n=25) who transitioned to psychosis (CHR-converters), as well as 56 age and sex-matched healthy controls. Raw diffusion signals were harmonized to remove scanner/site-induced effects, yielding a unified imaging dataset. Fractional anisotropy of cellular tissue (FAt) and the volume fraction of extracellular free-water (FW) were assessed in 12 major tracts from the IIT Human Brain Atlas (v.5.0). Linear mixed effects (LME) models were fitted to infer developmental trajectories of FAt and FW across age for CHR-converters, CHR-nonconverters and control groups, while accounting for the repeated measurements on each individual. Results The rate at which FAt changed with age significantly differed between the three groups across commissural and association tracts (5 in total; p

Whilst elevations in basal cortisol levels have been reported among individuals at-risk for psychosis, the extent to which this represents hyperresponsivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to psychosocial stressors encountered in the natural environment is currently unclear. We aimed to examine stressor-cortisol concordance among youth at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study 2 (NAPLS 2) and the relationship with clinical outcome. At baseline, CHR (N = 457) and healthy (N = 205) individuals provided salivary cortisol samples and completed daily stressor, life event, and childhood trauma measures. CHR youth were categorised as remitted, symptomatic, progression of positive symptoms, or psychosis conversion at the two-year follow-up. Within-group regression models tested associations between psychosocial stressors and cortisol; standardised beta coefficients (Stβ) were subsequently derived to enable within-group pooling of effect sizes across stressor types. After adjustment for potential confounders, all CHR subgroups reported greater exposure to life events and daily stressors, and more distress in relation to these events, relative to controls. All CHR groups were also more likely to experience childhood trauma; only CHR converters, however, were characterised by elevated basal cortisol. Daily stressor distress was significantly associated with cortisol in controls (β = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.12-1.08) and CHR youth who converted to psychosis (β = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.05-1.78). In controls only, life event exposure was associated with cortisol (β = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.08-0.83). When pooled across stressors, stressor-cortisol concordance was substantially higher among CHR converters (Stβ = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.44) relative to CHR progressed (Stβ = 0.02, 95% CI: -0.11 to 0.15), symptomatic (Stβ = 0.01, 95% CI: -0.11 to 0.12), and remitted groups (Stβ = 0.00, 95% CI: -0.13 to 0.13); however, unexpectedly, healthy controls showed intermediate levels of concordance (Stβ = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.26). In conclusion, whilst all CHR subgroups showed increased psychosocial stress exposure and distress relative to controls, only those who later converted to psychosis were characterised by significantly elevated basal cortisol levels. Moreover, only CHR converters showed a higher magnitude of stressor-cortisol concordance compared to controls, although confidence intervals overlapped considerably between these two groups. These findings do not support the notion that all individuals at CHR for psychosis show HPA hyperresponsiveness to psychosocial stressors. Instead, CHR individuals vary in their response to stressor exposure/distress, perhaps driven by genetic or other vulnerability factors.

Recently emerging evidence indicates accelerated age-related changes in the structure and function of the brain in schizophrenia, raising a question about its potential consequences on cognitive function. Using a large sample of schizophrenia patients and controls and a battery of tasks across multiple cognitive domains, we examined whether patients show accelerated age-related decline in cognition and whether an age-related effect differ between females and males. We utilized data of 1,415 schizophrenia patients and 1,062 healthy community collected by the second phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-2). A battery of cognitive tasks included the Letter-Number Span Task, two forms of the Continuous Performance Test, the California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition, the Penn Emotion Identification Test and the Penn Facial Memory Test. The effect of age and gender on cognitive performance was examined with a general linear model. We observed age-related changes on most cognitive measures, which was similar between males and females. Compared to controls, patients showed greater deterioration in performance on attention/vigilance and greater slowness of processing social information with increasing age. However, controls showed greater age-related changes in working memory and verbal memory compared to patients. Age-related changes (η2p of 0.001 to .008) were much smaller than between-group differences (η2p of 0.005 to .037). This study found that patients showed continued decline of cognition on some domains but stable impairment or even less decline on other domains with increasing age. These findings indicate that age-related changes in cognition in schizophrenia are subtle and not uniform across multiple cognitive domains.

ImportanceThe Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) uses quantitative neurophysiological and neurocognitive endophenotypes with demonstrated deficits in schizophrenia as a platform from which to explore the underlying neural circuitry and genetic architecture. Many of these endophenotypes are associated with poor functional outcome in schizophrenia. Some are also endorsed as potential treatment targets by the US Food and Drug Administration.ObjectiveTo build on prior assessments of heritability, association, and linkage in the COGS phase 1 (COGS-1) families by reporting a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 11 schizophrenia-related endophenotypes in the independent phase 2 (COGS-2) cohort of patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison participants (HCPs).Design, setting, and participantsA total of 1789 patients with schizophrenia and HCPs of self-reported European or Latino ancestry were recruited through a collaborative effort across the COGS sites and genotyped using the PsychChip. Standard quality control filters were applied, and more than 6.2 million variants with a genotyping call rate of greater than 0.99 were available after imputation. Association was performed for data sets stratified by diagnosis and ancestry using linear regression and adjusting for age, sex, and 5 principal components, with results combined through weighted meta-analysis. Data for COGS-1 were collected from January 6, 2003, to August 6, 2008; data for COGS-2, from June 30, 2010, to February 14, 2014. Data were analyzed from October 28, 2016, to May 4, 2018.Main outcomes and measuresA genome-wide association study was performed to evaluate association for 11 neurophysiological and neurocognitive endophenotypes targeting key domains of schizophrenia related to inhibition, attention, vigilance, learning, working memory, executive function, episodic memory, and social cognition.ResultsThe final sample of 1533 participants included 861 male participants (56.2%), and the mean (SD) age was 41.8 (13.6) years. In total, 7 genome-wide significant regions (P

ObjectiveThe overlap versus independence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia is a topic that has garnered the attention of generations of clinicians and scientists. Although high rates of psychotic symptoms have been identified in individuals with ASD, the nature, prevalence, and prognostic significance of subclinical psychotic experiences in ASD remain poorly understood.MethodThis study sought to compare baseline characteristics, clinical profiles, and conversion outcomes between young individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) who presented with or without a prior ASD diagnosis during the second phase of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS, N = 764).ResultsPatients with CHR and ASD (CHR/ASD+, n = 26) tended to exhibit greater social and social cognitive difficulties, but expressed relatively levels of core psychosis symptoms similar to those of to patients with CHR but no ASD (CHR/ASD-). Risk for conversion to co-occurring psychosis (18.2% CHR/ASD+ versus 16.8% CHR/ASD-) was equivalent between CHR/ASD+ and CHR/ASD- groups, and the NAPLS2 Psychosis Risk Calculator predicted conversion to psychosis equally well across groups.ConclusionThese results suggest that baseline psychosis symptoms, predictors of risk for conversion, and ultimate conversion rates are similar in patients with CHR with and without ASD. They further suggest that ASD must not be considered a mutually exclusive diagnosis when such youth present in CHR settings. Future research is needed to better track trajectories in larger cohorts of individuals with CHR and comorbid ASD and to understand whether treatment recommendations effective in the broader CHR population are useful for this particular population as well.

Natural systems, including the brain, often seem chaotic, since they are typically driven by complex nonlinear dynamical processes. Disruption in the fluid coordination of multiple brain regions contributes to impairments in information processing and the constellation of symptoms observed in neuropsychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia (SZ), one of the most debilitating mental illnesses, is thought to arise, in part, from such a network dysfunction, leading to impaired auditory information processing as well as cognitive and psychosocial deficits. Current approaches to neurophysiologic biomarker analyses predominantly rely on linear methods and may, therefore, fail to capture the wealth of information contained in whole EEG signals, including nonlinear dynamics. In this study, delay differential analysis (DDA), a nonlinear method based on embedding theory from theoretical physics, was applied to EEG recordings from 877 SZ patients and 753 nonpsychiatric comparison subjects (NCSs) who underwent mismatch negativity (MMN) testing via their participation in the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-2) study. DDA revealed significant nonlinear dynamical architecture related to auditory information processing in both groups. Importantly, significant DDA changes preceded those observed with traditional linear methods. Marked abnormalities in both linear and nonlinear features were detected in SZ patients. These results illustrate the benefits of nonlinear analysis of brain signals and underscore the need for future studies to investigate the relationship between DDA features and pathophysiology of information processing.

BackgroundThe Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) collected case-control endophenotype and genetic information from 2457 patients and healthy subjects (HS) across 5 test sites over 3.5 years. Analysis of the first "wave" (W1) of 1400 subjects identified prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficits in patients vs. HS. Data from the second COGS "wave" (W2), and the combined W(1+2), were used to assess: 1) the replicability of PPI deficits in this design; 2) the impact of response criteria on PPI deficits; and 3) PPI in a large cohort of antipsychotic-free patients.MethodsPPI in W2 HS (n=315) and schizophrenia patients (n=326) was compared to findings from W1; planned analyses assessed the impact of diagnosis, "wave" (1 vs. 2), and startle magnitude criteria. Combining waves allowed us to assess PPI in 120 antipsychotic-free patients, including many in the early course of illness.ResultsANOVA of all W(1+2) subjects revealed robust PPI deficits in patients across "waves" (p

Abstract Background In spite of evidence for the premorbid and prodromal onset of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, there is some limited evidence to suggest that deficits may progress with psychosis onset. Cognitive remediation in youth at risk for psychosis is being touted as an opportunity not only to remediate deficits but to potentially prevent this progression. Yet trajectories of cognitive functioning over time remain poorly understood in youth at risk, including the degree to which age at assessment or illness onset, sociodemographic factors, or symptom progression influence these trajectories. Methods The North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) -2 collected data on an extensive battery of neuropsychological (NP) tests at baseline, one year, two years, and post-conversion in a sample of clinical high risk (CHR) youth and healthy comparison (HC) subjects ages 12–35 (N= 960, 92% of the full sample) followed clinically for up to 2 years. NP data were available for 694 at CHR and 265 HC. Linear mixed effects analyses were used to test the effects of group, age, gender, age of onset, maternal education, and clinical outcome on cognitive trajectories. Results Those who transitioned to a psychotic disorder over the course of follow-up performed significantly below those who did not and well below healthy comparisons. Tasks reliant on attention, visual and auditory working memory, visuospatial and verbal memory, and processing speed best differentiated those who transitioned from those who did not at one year (Cohen’s d from -0.33 to -0.54). Discrepancies from normal functioning on these tests were generally large (Cohen’s d from -0.67 to -1.02) consistent with findings for first episode samples. Although clinical outcome was not associated with a significantly different trajectory over time on any cognitive domain, these are likely due to high rates of conversion in this sample within the first year. Predictors of different trajectories will be presented. Discussion These data from one of the largest CHR studies to date suggest that much of the neuropsychological dysfunction in major psychotic disorders is present early in the course of illness and prior to its full expression. However, trajectories are highly heterogeneous. More frequent assessment prior to and during the onset of illness are needed to fully understand the cognitive correlates of psychosis onset and the implications for early intervention.

Abstract Background Accumulated evidence from non-human animal studies suggests that the prominent deficits in memory and executive function that characterise individuals with psychosis may, at least in part, be due to the effects of stress on the brain regions that support these functions. However, studies of patients with established psychosis have yielded inconsistent findings with regards to the relationship between stress and cognition, and research in high-risk populations is notably lacking. Utilising data from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study 2 (NAPLS 2), we aimed to further elucidate the relationship between stress (daily stressors, life events, and childhood trauma) and cognitive function in clinical high-risk (CHR) individuals and healthy controls (HC). We additionally explored the role of potential mediators [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function] and moderators (group status, sex, family history of illness). Methods The sample comprised 885 participants (CHR=646; HC=239) who completed measures of stress and cognitive function at the NAPLS 2 baseline assessment. Stress measures included the Daily Stress Inventory and a modified version of the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview Life Events Scale, both of which provided continuous measures of stress exposure (number of events) and distress (subjective feelings of distress). Participants were also interviewed using the Childhood Trauma and Abuse Scale to determine any exposure to childhood trauma (abuse, neglect, and bullying occurring prior to age 16 years). Basal HPA axis activity was determined via salivary cortisol samples obtained at the baseline assessment and standardised scores from selected subtests from the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) were used to derive two cognitive domain scores (memory and executive function). To examine relationships between stress and cognitive domain scores, linear regression analyses were performed on standardised variables. Results Daily stressor exposure, daily stressor distress, and life event exposure exhibited negative quadratic (i.e., inverted U-shaped) associations with both memory and executive function (P < 0.01 for all). In contrast, the reverse pattern (i.e., a negative linear relationship and a positive quadratic relationship) was shown in the model for life event distress and memory domain scores (P < 0.01) whilst trauma history showed only a trend-level association with poorer memory performance (P = 0.084). These relationships, which did not differ across CHR and healthy control groups, were largely unchanged after adjusting for demographic factors and salivary cortisol. Exploratory analyses suggested that trauma exposure and a family history of psychosis may moderate the relationship between daily stressors/life events and cognitive function. Discussion In this large sample of predominately CHR individuals, we observed that the association between stress and cognition is complex and differs across stressor types. The negative quadratic associations that we observed for daily stressor exposure, daily stressor distress, and life event exposure imply that whist lower levels of stress may facilitate memory and executive function, there may be a negative impact on cognition when these stressors become more frequent and distressing. Interventions aiming to minimise stress exposure and promote effective coping strategies might feasibly improve cognition in CHR individuals.

ImportanceNeurophysiologic measures of early auditory information processing (EAP) are used as endophenotypes in genomic studies and biomarkers in clinical intervention studies. Research in schizophrenia has established correlations among measures of EAP, cognition, clinical symptoms, and functional outcome. Clarifying these associations by determining the pathways through which deficits in EAP affect functioning would suggest when and where to therapeutically intervene.ObjectivesTo characterize the pathways from EAP to outcome and to estimate the extent to which enhancement of basic information processing might improve cognition and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia.Design, setting, and participantsCross-sectional data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to examine the associations among EAP, cognition, negative symptoms, and functional outcome. Participants were recruited from the community at 5 geographically distributed laboratories as part of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia 2 from July 1, 2010, through January 31, 2014. This well-characterized cohort of 1415 patients with schizophrenia underwent EAP, cognitive, and thorough clinical and functional assessment.Main outcome and measuresMismatch negativity, P3a, and reorienting negativity were used to measure EAP. Cognition was measured by the Letter Number Span test and scales from the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition, the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition, and the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery. Negative symptoms were measured by the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. Functional outcome was measured by the Role Functioning Scale.ResultsParticipants included 1415 unrelated outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (mean [SD] age, 46 [11] years; 979 males [69.2%] and 619 white [43.7%]). Early auditory information processing had a direct effect on cognition (β = 0.37, P

ImportanceNeurocognition is a central characteristic of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Identifying the pattern and severity of neurocognitive functioning during the "near-psychotic," clinical high-risk (CHR) state of psychosis is necessary to develop accurate risk factors for psychosis and more effective and potentially preventive treatments.ObjectivesTo identify core neurocognitive dysfunctions associated with the CHR phase, measure the ability of neurocognitive tests to predict transition to psychosis, and determine if neurocognitive deficits are robust or explained by potential confounders.Design, setting, and participantsIn this case-control study across 8 sites, baseline neurocognitive data were collected from January 2009 to April 2013 in the second phase of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 2). The dates of analysis were August 2015 to August 2016. The setting was a consortium of 8 university-based, outpatient programs studying the psychosis prodrome in North America. Participants were 264 healthy controls (HCs) and 689 CHR individuals, aged 12 to 35 years.Main outcomes and measuresNeurocognitive associations with transition to psychosis and effects of medication on neurocognition. Nineteen neuropsychological tests and 4 factors derived from factor analysis were used: executive and visuospatial abilities, verbal abilities, attention and working memory abilities, and declarative memory abilities.ResultsThis study included 264 HCs (137 male and 127 female) and 689 CHR participants (398 male and 291 female). In the HCs, 145 (54.9%) were white and 119 (45.1%) were not, whereas 397 CHR participants (57.6%) were white and 291 (42.3%) were not. In the HCs, 45 (17%) were of Hispanic origin, whereas 127 CHR participants (18.4%) were of Hispanic origin. The CHR individuals were significantly impaired compared with HCs on attention and working memory abilities and declarative memory abilities. The CHR converters had large deficits in attention and working memory abilities and declarative memory abilities (Cohen d, approximately 0.80) compared with controls and performed significantly worse on these dimensions than nonconverters (Cohen d, 0.28 and 0.48, respectively). These results were not accounted for by general cognitive ability or medications. In Cox proportional hazards regression, time to conversion in those who transitioned to psychosis was significantly predicted by high verbal (premorbid) abilities (β = 0.40; hazard ratio [HR], 1.48; 95% CI, 1.08-2.04; P = .02), impaired declarative memory abilities (β = -0.87; HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.31-0.56; P

Past studies describe numerous endophenotypes associated with schizophrenia (SZ), but many endophenotypes may overlap in information they provide, and few studies have investigated the utility of a multivariate index to improve discrimination between SZ and healthy community comparison subjects (CCS). We investigated 16 endophenotypes from the first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia, a large, multi-site family study, to determine whether a subset could distinguish SZ probands and CCS just as well as using all 16. Participants included 345 SZ probands and 517 CCS with a valid measure for at least one endophenotype. We used both logistic regression and random forest models to choose a subset of endophenotypes, adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, site, parent education, and the reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test. As a sensitivity analysis, we re-fit models using multiple imputations to determine the effect of missing values. We identified four important endophenotypes: antisaccade, Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs 3-digit version, California Verbal Learning Test, and emotion identification. The logistic regression model that used just these four endophenotypes produced essentially the same results as the model that used all 16 (84% vs. 85% accuracy). While a subset of endophenotypes cannot replace clinical diagnosis nor encompass the complexity of the disease, it can aid in the design of future endophenotypic and genetic studies by reducing study cost and subject burden, simplifying sample enrichment, and improving the statistical power of locating those genetic regions associated with schizophrenia that may be the easiest to identify initially.

The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) fills a significant need for a standardized battery of cognitive tests to use in clinical trials for schizophrenia in adults aged 20-59. A need remains, however, to develop norms for younger individuals, who also show elevated risks for schizophrenia. Toward this end, we assessed performance in healthy adolescents. Baseline MCCB, reading and IQ data were obtained from healthy controls (ages 12-19) participating in two concurrent NIMH-funded studies: North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study phase 2 (NAPLS-2; n=126) and Boston Center for Intervention Development and Applied Research (CIDAR; n=13). All MCCB tests were administered except the Managing Emotions subtest from the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. Data were collected from 8 sites across North America. MCCB scores were presented in four 2-year age cohorts as T-scores for each test and cognitive domain, and analyzed for effects of age and sex. Due to IQ differences between age-grouped subsamples, IQ served as a covariate in analyses. Overall and sex-based raw scores for individual MCCB tests are presented for each age-based cohort. Adolescents generally showed improvement with age in most MCCB cognitive domains, with the clearest linear trends in Attention/Vigilance and Working Memory. These control data show that healthy adolescence is a dynamic period for cognitive development that is marked by substantial improvement in MCCB performance through the 12-19 age range. They also provide healthy comparison raw scores to facilitate clinical evaluations of adolescents, including those at risk for developing psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia-related conditions.

ObjectiveThe Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia Family Study evaluated 12 primary and other supplementary neurocognitive and neurophysiological endophenotypes in schizophrenia probands and their families. Previous analyses of prepulse inhibition (PPI) and P50 gating measures in this sample revealed heritability estimates that were lower than expected based on earlier family studies. Here the authors investigated whether gating measures were more heritable in multiply affected families with a positive family history compared with families with only a single affected proband (singleton).MethodA total of 296 nuclear families consisting of a schizophrenia proband, at least one unaffected sibling, and both parents underwent a comprehensive endophenotype and clinical characterization. The Family Interview for Genetic Studies was administered to all participants and used to obtain convergent psychiatric symptom information for additional first-degree relatives. Among the families, 97 were multiply affected, and 96 were singletons.ResultsBoth PPI and P50 gating displayed substantially increased heritability in the 97 multiply affected families (47% and 36%, respectively) compared with estimates derived from the entire sample of 296 families (29% and 20%, respectively). However, no evidence for heritability was observed for either measure in the 96 singleton families. Schizophrenia probands derived from the multiply affected families also displayed a significantly increased severity of clinical symptoms compared with those from singleton families.ConclusionsPPI and P50 gating measures demonstrate substantially increased heritability in schizophrenia families with a higher genetic vulnerability for illness, providing further support for the commonality of genes underlying both schizophrenia and gating measures.

The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia Family Study (COGS-1) has previously reported our efforts to characterize the genetic architecture of 12 primary endophenotypes for schizophrenia. We now report the characterization of 13 additional measures derived from the same endophenotype test paradigms in the COGS-1 families. Nine of the measures were found to discriminate between schizophrenia patients and controls, were significantly heritable (31 to 62%), and were sufficiently independent of previously assessed endophenotypes, demonstrating utility as additional endophenotypes. Genotyping via a custom array of 1536 SNPs from 94 candidate genes identified associations for CTNNA2, ERBB4, GRID1, GRID2, GRIK3, GRIK4, GRIN2B, NOS1AP, NRG1, and RELN across multiple endophenotypes. An experiment-wide p value of 0.003 suggested that the associations across all SNPs and endophenotypes collectively exceeded chance. Linkage analyses performed using a genome-wide SNP array further identified significant or suggestive linkage for six of the candidate endophenotypes, with several genes of interest located beneath the linkage peaks (e.g., CSMD1, DISC1, DLGAP2, GRIK2, GRIN3A, and SLC6A3). While the partial convergence of the association and linkage likely reflects differences in density of gene coverage provided by the distinct genotyping platforms, it is also likely an indication of the differential contribution of rare and common variants for some genes and methodological differences in detection ability. Still, many of the genes implicated by COGS through endophenotypes have been identified by independent studies of common, rare, and de novo variation in schizophrenia, all converging on a functional genetic network related to glutamatergic neurotransmission that warrants further investigation.

Attention/vigilance impairments are present in individuals with schizophrenia across psychotic and remitted states and in their first-degree relatives. An important question is whether deficits in attention/vigilance can be consistently and reliably measured across sites varying in many participant demographic, clinical, and functional characteristics, as needed for large-scale genetic studies of endophenotypes. We examined Continuous Performance Test (CPT) data from phase 2 of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-2), the largest-scale assessment of cognitive and psychophysiological endophenotypes relevant to schizophrenia. The CPT data from 2251 participants from five sites were examined. A perceptual-load vigilance task (the Degraded Stimulus CPT or DS-CPT) and a memory-load vigilance task (CPT-Identical Pairs or CPT-IP) were utilized. Schizophrenia patients performed more poorly than healthy comparison subjects (HCS) across sites, despite significant site differences in participant age, sex, education, and racial distribution. Patient-HCS differences in signal/noise discrimination (d') in the DS-CPT varied significantly across sites, but averaged a medium effect size. CPT-IP performance showed large patient-HCS differences across sites. Poor CPT performance was independent of or weakly correlated with symptom severity, but was significantly associated with lower educational achievement and functional capacity. Current smoking was associated with poorer CPT-IP d'. Patients taking both atypical and typical antipsychotic medication performed more poorly than those on no or atypical antipsychotic medications, likely reflecting their greater severity of illness. We conclude that CPT deficits in schizophrenia can be reliably detected across sites, are relatively independent of current symptom severity, and are related to functional capacity.

The first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) showed performance deficits in learning and memory on the California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition (CVLT-II) in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ), compared to healthy comparison subjects (HCS). A question is whether the COGS-1 study, which used a family study design (i.e. studying relatively intact families), yielded "milder" SZ phenotypes than those acquired subsequently in the COGS-2 case-control design that did not recruit unaffected family members. CVLT-II performance was compared for the COGS-1 and COGS-2 samples. Analyses focused on learning, recall and recognition variables, with age, gender and education as covariates. Analyses of COGS-2 data explored effects of additional covariates and moderating factors in CVLT-II performance. 324 SZ subjects and 510 HCS had complete CVLT-II and covariate data in COGS-1, while 1356 SZ and 1036 HCS had complete data in COGS-2. Except for recognition memory, analysis of covariance showed significantly worse performance in COGS-2 on all CVLT-II variables for SZ and HCS, and remained significant in the presence of the covariates. Performance in each of the 5 learning trials differed significantly. However, effect sizes comparing cases and controls were comparable across the two studies. COGS-2 analyses confirmed SZ performance deficits despite effects of multiple significant covariates and moderating factors. CVLT-II performance was worse in COGS-2 than in COGS-1 for both the SZ and the HCS in this large cohort, likely due to cohort effects. Demographically corrected data yield a consistent pattern of performance across the two studies in SZ.

The impaired ability to make correct antisaccades (i.e., antisaccade performance) is well documented among schizophrenia subjects, and researchers have successfully demonstrated that antisaccade performance is a valid schizophrenia endophenotype that is useful for genetic studies. However, it is unclear how the ascertainment biases that unavoidably result from recruitment differences in schizophrenia subjects identified in family versus case-control studies may influence patient-control differences in antisaccade performance. To assess the impact of ascertainment bias, researchers from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) compared antisaccade performance and antisaccade metrics (latency and gain) in schizophrenia and control subjects from COGS-1, a family-based schizophrenia study, to schizophrenia and control subjects from COGS-2, a corresponding case-control study. COGS-2 schizophrenia subjects were substantially older; had lower education status, worse psychosocial function, and more severe symptoms; and were three times more likely to be a member of a multiplex family than COGS-1 schizophrenia subjects. Despite these variations, which were likely the result of ascertainment differences (as described in the introduction to this special issue), the effect sizes of the control-schizophrenia differences in antisaccade performance were similar in both studies (Cohen's d effect size of 1.06 and 1.01 in COGS-1 and COGS-2, respectively). This suggests that, in addition to the robust, state-independent schizophrenia-related deficits described in endophenotype studies, group differences in antisaccade performance do not vary based on subject ascertainment and recruitment factors.

ObjectivesWorking memory impairment has been extensively studied in schizophrenia, but less is known about moderators of the impairment. Using the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia case-control study (COGS-2), we examined smoking status, types of antipsychotic medication, and history of substance as moderators for working memory impairment in schizophrenia.MethodsFrom 5 sites, 1377 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective, depressed type and 1037 healthy controls completed the letter-number span (LNS) task. The LNS uses intermixed letter and digit stimuli that increase from 2 up to 8 stimuli. In the forward condition, participants repeated the letters and numbers in the order they were presented. In the reorder condition, participants repeated the digits in ascending order followed by letters in alphabetical order.ResultsSchizophrenia patients performed more poorly than controls, with a larger difference on reorder than forward conditions. Deficits were associated with symptoms, functional capacity, and functional outcome. Patients who smoked showed larger impairment than nonsmoking patients, primarily due to deficits on the reorder condition. The impairing association of smoking was more pronounced among patients taking first-generation than those taking second-generation antipsychotic medications. Correlations between working memory and community functioning were stronger for nonsmokers. History of substance use did not moderate working memory impairment.ConclusionsResults confirm the working memory impairment in schizophrenia, and indicate smoking status as an important moderator for these deficits. The greater impairment in smokers may reflect added burden of smoking on general health or that patients with greater deficits are more likely to smoke.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a are auditory event-related potential (ERP) components that show robust deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) patients and exhibit qualities of endophenotypes, including substantial heritability, test-retest reliability, and trait-like stability. These measures also fulfill criteria for use as cognition and function-linked biomarkers in outcome studies, but have not yet been validated for use in large-scale multi-site clinical studies. This study tested the feasibility of adding MMN and P3a to the ongoing Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) study. The extent to which demographic, clinical, cognitive, and functional characteristics contribute to variability in MMN and P3a amplitudes was also examined. Participants (HCS n=824, SZ n=966) underwent testing at 5 geographically distributed COGS laboratories. Valid ERP recordings were obtained from 91% of HCS and 91% of SZ patients. Highly significant MMN (d=0.96) and P3a (d=0.93) amplitude reductions were observed in SZ patients, comparable in magnitude to those observed in single-lab studies with no appreciable differences across laboratories. Demographic characteristics accounted for 26% and 18% of the variance in MMN and P3a amplitudes, respectively. Significant relationships were observed among demographically-adjusted MMN and P3a measures and medication status as well as several clinical, cognitive, and functional characteristics of the SZ patients. This study demonstrates that MMN and P3a ERP biomarkers can be feasibly used in multi-site clinical studies. As with many clinical tests of brain function, demographic factors contribute to MMN and P3a amplitudes and should be carefully considered in future biomarker-informed clinical studies.

BackgroundAlthough many endophenotypes for schizophrenia have been studied individually, few studies have examined the extent to which common neurocognitive and neurophysiological measures reflect shared versus unique endophenotypic factors. It may be possible to distill individual endophenotypes into composite measures that reflect dissociable, genetically informative elements.MethodsThe first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) is a multisite family study that collected neurocognitive and neurophysiological data between 2003 and 2008. For these analyses, participants included schizophrenia probands (n=83), their nonpsychotic siblings (n=151), and community comparison subjects (n=209) with complete data on a battery of 12 neurocognitive tests (assessing domains of working memory, declarative memory, vigilance, spatial ability, abstract reasoning, facial emotion processing, and motor speed) and 3 neurophysiological tasks reflecting inhibitory processing (P50 gating, prepulse inhibition and antisaccade tasks). Factor analyses were conducted on the measures for each subject group and across the entire sample. Heritability analyses of factors were performed using SOLAR.ResultsAnalyses yielded 5 distinct factors: 1) Episodic Memory, 2) Working Memory, 3) Perceptual Vigilance, 4) Visual Abstraction, and 5) Inhibitory Processing. Neurophysiological measures had low associations with these factors. The factor structure of endophenotypes was largely comparable across probands, siblings and controls. Significant heritability estimates for the factors ranged from 22% (Episodic Memory) to 39% (Visual Abstraction).ConclusionsNeurocognitive measures reflect a meaningful amount of shared variance whereas the neurophysiological measures reflect largely unique contributions as endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Composite endophenotype measures may inform our neurobiological and genetic understanding of schizophrenia.

Reduced auditory P300 amplitude is a robust schizophrenia deficit exhibiting the qualities of a viable genetic endophenotype. These include heritability, test-retest reliability, and trait-like stability. Recent evidence suggests that P300 may also serve as a predictive biomarker for transition to psychosis during the schizophrenia prodrome. Historically, the utility of the P300 has been limited by its clinical nonspecificity, cross-site measurement variability, and required EEG expertise. The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-2) study provided an opportunity to examine the consistency of the measure across multiple sites with varying degrees of EEG experience, and to identify important modulating factors that contribute to measurement variability. Auditory P300 was acquired from 649 controls and 587 patients at 5 sites. An overall patient deficit was observed with effect size 0.62. Each site independently observed a significant patient deficit, but site differences also existed. In patients, site differences reflected clinical differences in positive symptomatology and functional capacity. In controls, site differences reflected differences in racial stratification, smoking and substance use history. These factors differentially suppressed the P300 response, but only in control subjects. This led to an attenuated patient-control difference among smokers and among African Americans with history of substance use. These findings indicate that the P300 can be adequately assessed quantitatively, across sites, without substantial EEG expertise. Measurements are suitable for both genetic endophenotype analyses and studies of psychosis risk and conversion. However, careful attention must be given to selection of appropriate comparison samples to avoid misleading false negative results.

BackgroundNeurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) are established and the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) investigated such measures as endophenotypes in family-based (COGS-1) and case-control (COGS-2) studies. By requiring family participation, family-based sampling may result in samples that vary demographically and perform better on neurocognitive measures.MethodsThe Penn computerized neurocognitive battery (CNB) evaluates accuracy and speed of performance for several domains and was administered across sites in COGS-1 and COGS-2. Most tests were included in both studies. COGS-1 included 328 patients with SZ and 497 healthy comparison subjects (HCS) and COGS-2 included 1195 patients and 1009 HCS.ResultsDemographically, COGS-1 participants were younger, more educated, with more educated parents and higher estimated IQ compared to COGS-2 participants. After controlling for demographics, the two samples produced very similar performance profiles compared to their respective controls. As expected, performance was better and with smaller effect sizes compared to controls in COGS-1 relative to COGS-2. Better performance was most pronounced for spatial processing while emotion identification had large effect sizes for both accuracy and speed in both samples. Performance was positively correlated with functioning and negatively with negative and positive symptoms in both samples, but correlations were attenuated in COGS-2, especially with positive symptoms.ConclusionsPatients ascertained through family-based design have more favorable demographics and better performance on some neurocognitive domains. Thus, studies that use case-control ascertainment may tap into populations with more severe forms of illness that are exposed to less favorable factors compared to those ascertained with family-based designs.

BackgroundTwin and multiplex family studies have established significant heritability for schizophrenia (SZ), often summarized as 81%. The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) family study was designed to deconstruct the genetic architecture of SZ using neurocognitive and neurophysiological endophenotypes, for which heritability estimates ranged from 18% to 50% (mean = 30%). This study assessed the heritability of SZ in these families to determine whether there is a "heritability gap" between the diagnosis and related endophenotypes.MethodsNuclear families (N = 296) with a SZ proband, an unaffected sibling, and both parents (n = 1366 subjects; mean family size = 4.6) underwent comprehensive endophenotype and clinical characterization. The Family Interview for Genetic Studies was administered to all participants and used to obtain convergent psychiatric symptom information for additional first-degree relatives of interviewed subjects (N = 3304 subjects; mean family size = 11.2). Heritability estimates of psychotic disorders were computed for both nuclear and extended families.ResultsThe heritability of SZ was 31% and 44% for nuclear and extended families. The inclusion of bipolar disorder increased the heritability to 37% for the nuclear families. When major depression was added, heritability estimates dropped to 34% and 20% for nuclear and extended families, respectively.ConclusionsEndophenotypes and psychotic disorders exhibit comparable levels of heritability in the COGS-1 family sample. The ascertainment of families with discordant sibpairs to increase endophenotypic contrast may underestimate diagnostic heritability relative to other studies. However, population-based studies also report significantly lower heritability estimates for SZ. Collectively, these findings support the importance of endophenotype-based strategies and the dimensional view of psychosis.

We evaluated the discrepancy of endophenotypic performance between probands with schizophrenia and unaffected siblings by paternal age at proband birth, a possible marker for de novo mutations. Pairs of schizophrenia probands and unaffected siblings (N=220 pairs) were evaluated on 11 neuropsychological or neurophysiological endophenotypes previously identified as heritable. For each endophenotype, the sibling-minus-proband differences were transformed to standardized scores. Then for each pair, the average discrepancy was calculated from its standardized scores. We tested the hypothesis that the discrepancy is associated with paternal age, controlling for the number of endophenotypes shared between proband and his or her sibling, and proband age, which were both associated with paternal age. The non-significant association between the discrepancy and paternal age was in the opposite direction from the hypothesis. Of the 11 endophenotypes only sensori-motor dexterity was significant, but in the opposite direction. Eight other endophenotypes were also in the opposite direction, but not significant. The results did not support the hypothesized association of increased differences between sibling/proband pairs with greater paternal age. A possible explanation is that the identification of heritable endophenotypes was based on samples for which schizophrenia was attributable to inherited rather than de novo/non-inherited causes.

BackgroundStartle inhibition by weak prepulses (PPI) is studied to understand the biology of information processing in schizophrenia patients and healthy comparison subjects (HCS). The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) identified associations between PPI and single nucleotide polymorphisms in schizophrenia probands and unaffected relatives, and linkage analyses extended evidence for the genetics of PPI deficits in schizophrenia in the COGS-1 family study. These findings are being extended in a 5-site "COGS-2" study of 1800 patients and 1200 unrelated HCS to facilitate genetic analyses. We describe a planned interim analysis of COGS-2 PPI data.MethodsEyeblink startle was measured in carefully screened HCS and schizophrenia patients (n=1402). Planned analyses of PPI (60 ms intervals) assessed effects of diagnosis, sex and test site, PPI-modifying effects of medications and smoking, and relationships between PPI and neurocognitive measures.Results884 subjects met strict inclusion criteria. ANOVA of PPI revealed significant effects of diagnosis (p=0.0005) and sex (pschizophrenia PPI differences were greatest among patients not taking 2nd generation antipsychotics, and were independent of smoking status. Modest but significant relationships were detected between PPI and performance in specific neurocognitive measures.DiscussionThe COGS-2 multi-site study detects schizophrenia-related PPI deficits reported in single-site studies, including patterns related to diagnosis, prepulse interval, sex, medication and other neurocognitive measures. Site differences were detected and explored. The target COGS-2 schizophrenia "endophenotype" of reduced PPI should prove valuable for identifying and confirming schizophrenia risk genes in future analyses.