Clinical correlates of language disturbance in schizophrenia - Is there an effect of sex?
Sex differences in schizophrenia are well documented but their origin is obscure. This paper presents an investigation of the relationship between language disturbances and symptoms in schizophrenia with particular reference to sex differences. The sample was drawn from the population of DSM-IV schi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2002
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| Summary: | Sex differences in schizophrenia are well documented but their origin is obscure. This paper presents an investigation of the relationship between language disturbances and symptoms in schizophrenia with particular reference to sex differences. The sample was drawn from the population of DSM-IV schizophrenic patients hospitalized in an acute inpatient clinic (N-19 female and 15 male) and treated with classical antipsychotics. They were assessed using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and the Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale (CLANG). There were few significant differences in clinical symptomatology and language disturbancies between males and females but a greater variability in males. For both sexes there were significant correlations between PANSS positive factors and the CLANG "semantic" factor and between PANSS negative factors and the CLANG "production" factor as well as some significant correlations between CLANG and PANSS items confined to either males or females. In particular a number of relationships between affective change and symptoms were present in females that were not seen in males. The general associations of the CLANG semantic and production factors are, consistent with the concept that positive symptoms are primarily disorders of speech perception and negative symptoms are disorders of speech production. |
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