Electrodermal activity and social network as predictors of outcome of episodes in schizophrenia.

Abstract

The predictive value of electrodermal activity and social network was examined among 48 consecutively admitted schizophrenic patients. The patients were followed from an initial admission, through hospital stay, discharge, follow-up (M = 31 months), and possible relapse. Outcome variables were the length of stay in the hospital at the key episode and time to relapse, defined as a marked exacerbation or return of schizophrenic symptoms requiring inpatient or expansion of outpatient treatment. Multivariate analyses showed that a psychosocial variable, the availability of attachment, was the only independent predictor of length of stay in the hospital. Age at admission was a strong predictor of time to relapse. Age interacted with both outcome and electrodermal activity, and young electrodermal nonresponders were found to have the shortest time to relapse. At the 1-year follow-up, a main relapse effect was found for patients with a low skin conductance level.

Electrodermal predictors of functional outcome and negative symptoms in schizophrenia

“…Alm, Lindstrom, Öst, and Öhman (1984) and Katsanis and Iacono (1994) obtained largely similar findings. Consistent with these studies that measured electrodermal activity and symptoms concurrently, Hultman et al (1996) found that patients who were nonresponders and who were lower in tonic measures of electrodermal activity had longer hospital stays and shorter times to relapse, a finding particularly marked in their younger patients.…”

Social relationships in young adults at ultra high risk for psychosis

“…Studies have found associations between low levels of social support and high levels of both negative (Pruessner et al, 2011) and positive symptoms (Norman et al, 2005). Lower levels of social support have also been found to predict higher frequency of hospitalizations (Norman et al, 2005) and availability of friends and family predicts hospital stay length and psychotic symptom severity (Hultman et al, 1996). …”

Beat-to-beat heart rate and QT interval variability in first episode neuroleptic-naive psychosis

“…For example, there is evidence that electrodermal activity is a prodromal sign in schizophrenia (Hazlett et al 1997) and predicts functional outcomes and negative symptoms in psychosis (Schell et al 2005), as well as rates of relapse on follow-up (Hultman et al 1996). Electrodermal activity has also been shown to predict performance on tests of neuro-cognition, such as Wisconsin Card sorting task (Schiffer et al 1996), Stroop Color Word test (Lopes-Machado et al 2002).…”