Among 16 chronic schizophrenic in-patients, all had at least one neurological soft sign (NSS), and 6 (40%) had definite neurodysfunction. NSS and TD scores were highly intercorrelated, and NSS were significantly correlated with neuroleptic drug exposure. NSS correlated positively with both positive and negative symptoms and cognitive impairment but not with cerebral ventricular size on CT. Patients with neurodysfunction had more positive and negative psychopathology, cognitive impairment and TD than those without. Cerebral ventricular sizes and family histories of schizophrenia were similar in both NSS groups. The presence of NSS may be a simple but important way of identifying a subgroup of schizophrenics with neurodevelopmental predisposing abnormalities, and vulnerability to TD.
Tobacco-specific nitrosamines, an important group of carcinogens in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Carcinogenesis 1988;9:875-84. 21 Design-Contemporaneous maternity hospital records were identified and extracted verbatim, and these extracts evaluated for obstetric complications by two independent assessors who were blind to subjects' status.Subjects-65 patients having an ICD-9 diagnosis of schizophrenia, the records of the previous same sex live birth being deemed to be those of a control subject.Main outcome measure-Presence of one or more obstetric complications recorded in maternity notes ofpatients and controls.Results-When two recognised scales for specifying obstetric complications were used the patients with schizophrenia were significantly more likely than controls to have experienced at least one obstetric complication (odds ratio 2-44, 95%
A population of 101 chronic schizophrenic inpatients were assessed for the presence or absence of tardive dyskinesia, and followed up 32 months later. At follow up, the mortality rates in 44 patients with and 57 patients without involuntary movements were 16% vs. 9% respectively; this difference widened when only the more prominent involuntary movements were considered. Of those surviving, patients with tardive dyskinesia were much more likely to contract an attack of respiratory tract infection, and to do so on multiple occasions, and tended to suffer from more cardiovascular disorders. They appeared more likely to show smoking-related pathology. Chronic schizophrenic patients with tardive dyskinesia constitute a more biologically disadvantaged group, suggesting a broader disease concept of the syndrome.
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