Negative symptoms and sex differences in first episode schizophrenia: What's their role in the functional outcome? A longitudinal study

Amoretti, Silvia ; Mezquida, Gisela ; Verdolini, Norma ; Bioque, Miquel ; Sánchez-Torres, Ana M. ; Pina-Camacho, Laura ; Zorrilla, Iñaki ; Trabsa, Amira ; Rodríguez-Jiménez, Roberto ; Corripio, Iluminada ; Sarró, Salvador ; Ibáñez, Ángela ; Usall, Judith ; Segarra, Rafael ; Vieta, Eduard ; Roberto, Natalia ; Ramos-Quiroga, Josep Antoni ; Tortorella, Alfonso ; Menculini, Giulia ; Cuesta, Manuel J. ; Parellada, Mara ; González-Pinto, Ana ; Berrocoso, Esther ; Bernardo, Miguel ; Forte, María Florencia ; Serra, María ; Alonso-Solís, Anna ; Grasa, Eva ; Corres, Edurne García ; Fernández Sevillano, Jessica ; Toll, Alba ; Martínez-Sadurní, Laura ; Núñez-Doyle, Aggie ; Sánchez-Pastor, Luis ; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith ; Guerrero-Pedraza, Amalia ; Butjosa, Anna ; Pardo, Marta ; López-Ilundain, José M. ; Ribeiro, María ; Saiz-Ruiz, Jerónimo ; León-Quismondo, Leticia ; Escartí, María José ; Contreras, Fernando ; Cámara, Concepción de la (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Zabala Rabadán, Arantzazu ; Portilla, M. Paz

Resumen: Introduction: Negative symptoms (NS) include asociality, avolition, anhedonia, alogia, and blunted affect and are linked to poor prognosis. It has been suggested that they reflect two different factors: diminished expression (EXP) (blunted affect and alogia) and amotivation/pleasure (MAP) (anhedonia, avolition, asociality). The aim of this article was to examine potential sex differences among first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and analyze sex-related predictors of two NS symptoms factors (EXP and MAP) and functional outcome. Material and methods: Two hundred and twenty-three FES (71 females and 152 males) were included and evaluated at baseline, six-months and one-year. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine the effects of time and sex on NS and a multiple linear regression backward elimination was performed to predict NS factors (MAP-EXP) and functioning. Results: Females showed fewer NS (p = 0.031; Cohen's d = −0.312), especially those related to EXP (p = 0.024; Cohen's d = −0.326) rather than MAP (p = 0.086), than males. In both male and female group, worse premorbid adjustment and higher depressive symptoms made a significant contribution to the presence of higher deficits in EXP at one-year follow-up, while positive and depressive symptoms predicted alterations in MAP. Finally, in females, lower deficits in MAP and better premorbid adjustment predicted better functioning at one-year follow-up (R2 = 0.494; p < 0.001), while only higher deficits in MAP predicted worse functioning in males (R2 = 0.088; p = 0.012). Conclusions: Slightly sex differences have been found in this study. Our results lead us to consider that early interventions of NS, especially those focusing on motivation and pleasure symptoms, could improve functional outcomes.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.sjpmh.2023.04.001

Año: 2025

Publicado en: Spanish journal of psychiatry and mental health 18, 2 (2025), 91-99
ISSN: 2950-2861

Factor impacto JCR: 0.0 (2023)

Categ. JCR: PSYCHIATRY
Categ. JCR: PSYCHIATRY

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 9.5 - Psychiatry and Mental Health (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/754550/EU/Biomedicine international training research programme for excellent clinician-scientists/BITRECS
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/ISCIII/CD20-00177
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/ISCIII-FIS-FEDER/PI19-00766
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/ISCIII/PI08-0208
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PI18-00805
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICIU/PI21/00787
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO-ISCIII-FEDER/PI11-00325
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/PI14-00612

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Area Psiquiatría (Dpto. Medicina, Psiqu. y Derm.)