Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia
Recent studies indicate that neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenia are associated with generalized cognitive impairments rather than changes in specific neuropsychological domains. However, the majority of studies solely included first-episode patients or patients with a remitting course an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Schizophrenia Research: Cognition |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001318300519 |
| _version_ | 1818887374814314496 |
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| author | Christina J. Herold Céline Z. Duval Marc M. Lässer Johannes Schröder |
| author_facet | Christina J. Herold Céline Z. Duval Marc M. Lässer Johannes Schröder |
| author_sort | Christina J. Herold |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent studies indicate that neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenia are associated with generalized cognitive impairments rather than changes in specific neuropsychological domains. However, the majority of studies solely included first-episode patients or patients with a remitting course and did not consider age, course, education or severity of global cognitive deficits as potential confounding variables. Therefore, we examined NSS with respect to cognitive deficits in chronic schizophrenia, i.e. patients who are particularly vulnerable to both, NSS and cognitive impairments.Eighty patients with chronic schizophrenia (43.36 ± 15a) and 60 healthy controls (47.52 ± 14.8a) matched for age, sex and years of education were examined on the Heidelberg NSS scale and a broad neuropsychological battery including short term, working, logical and autobiographic memory (AM), theory of mind (ToM), psychomotor speed and cognitive flexibility.When contrasted with the controls, patients showed significantly higher NSS scores and impairments in all neuropsychological domains but short-term memory. NSS were significantly associated with all neuropsychological domains considered but short-term memory and semantic AM. Except for episodic AM (which was significantly correlated with NSS in patients only) these correlations applied to both groups and were confirmed when age, years of education and severity of global cognitive deficits (Mini Mental State Examination) were controlled for.Results demonstrate that NSS reflect a rather wide range of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, which also involves episodic AM and ToM. These associations were not accounted for by age, education or severity of global cognitive deficits and facilitate the clinical usage of NSS as a screening instrument. Keywords: Neurological soft signs (NSS), Chronic schizophrenia, Autobiographic memory, Theory of mind (ToM), Cognitive flexibility |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:36:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fdb14e67e184495f8bd950107e9ce1c4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2215-0013 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:36:13Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Schizophrenia Research: Cognition |
| spelling | doaj.art-fdb14e67e184495f8bd950107e9ce1c42022-12-21T20:13:58ZengElsevierSchizophrenia Research: Cognition2215-00132019-06-01161724Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophreniaChristina J. Herold0Céline Z. Duval1Marc M. Lässer2Johannes Schröder3Corresponding author at: Voßstr. 4, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.; Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GermanySection of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GermanySection of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GermanySection of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GermanyRecent studies indicate that neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenia are associated with generalized cognitive impairments rather than changes in specific neuropsychological domains. However, the majority of studies solely included first-episode patients or patients with a remitting course and did not consider age, course, education or severity of global cognitive deficits as potential confounding variables. Therefore, we examined NSS with respect to cognitive deficits in chronic schizophrenia, i.e. patients who are particularly vulnerable to both, NSS and cognitive impairments.Eighty patients with chronic schizophrenia (43.36 ± 15a) and 60 healthy controls (47.52 ± 14.8a) matched for age, sex and years of education were examined on the Heidelberg NSS scale and a broad neuropsychological battery including short term, working, logical and autobiographic memory (AM), theory of mind (ToM), psychomotor speed and cognitive flexibility.When contrasted with the controls, patients showed significantly higher NSS scores and impairments in all neuropsychological domains but short-term memory. NSS were significantly associated with all neuropsychological domains considered but short-term memory and semantic AM. Except for episodic AM (which was significantly correlated with NSS in patients only) these correlations applied to both groups and were confirmed when age, years of education and severity of global cognitive deficits (Mini Mental State Examination) were controlled for.Results demonstrate that NSS reflect a rather wide range of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, which also involves episodic AM and ToM. These associations were not accounted for by age, education or severity of global cognitive deficits and facilitate the clinical usage of NSS as a screening instrument. Keywords: Neurological soft signs (NSS), Chronic schizophrenia, Autobiographic memory, Theory of mind (ToM), Cognitive flexibilityhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001318300519 |
| spellingShingle | Christina J. Herold Céline Z. Duval Marc M. Lässer Johannes Schröder Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia Schizophrenia Research: Cognition |
| title | Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| title_full | Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| title_fullStr | Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| title_short | Neurological soft signs (NSS) and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| title_sort | neurological soft signs nss and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001318300519 |
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