| 1 | Psychiatry Res 2005 Apr 134: 131-41 |
|---|---|
| PMID | 15840414 |
| Title | Deficit in decision making in catatonic schizophrenia: an exploratory study. |
| Abstract | Catatonic schizophrenia can be distinguished from paranoid schizophrenia by prominent behavioral and motor anomalies. As demonstrated in recent imaging studies, behavioral symptoms may be related to dysfunction in the ventral prefrontal cortex. However, the neuropsychological correlates of ventral prefrontal cortical dysfunction remain unclear. In an exploratory study, we investigated eight patients with catatonic schizophrenia and compared them with 19 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 26 healthy subjects. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Object Alternation Task (OAT) served as measures of ventral prefrontal cortical function. In addition, other prefrontal cortical tests such as a visual working memory task, a Go-NoGo task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, as well as attentional tasks, were included in the test battery. Catatonic patients showed significant deficits in the IGT characterized by an inability to shift from the initial preference for high-risk cards to a more advantageous strategy with low-risk cards. Moreover, catatonic patients showed significant deficits in the OAT. In conclusion, our preliminary results suggest a specific deficit in catatonic schizophrenia in those neuropsychological measures that are associated with ventral prefrontal cortical function. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic, schizophrenics |
| 2 | J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 2008 Jan 196: 67-70 |
| PMID | 18195644 |
| Title | Preserved orbitofrontal function in first-episode schizophrenia: further evidence from the object alternation paradigm. |
| Abstract | Neuropsychological literature indicates that performance on Object Alternation Task (OAT) can be linked to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Patients with chronic schizophrenia perform poorly on behavioral and neuropsychological tasks related to OFC functions. In a previous study using the Iowa Gambling Task, we found unimpaired performance in a sample of individuals with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) spectrum disorders. In this study, we aimed to extend our study of OFC functions by using the OAT paradigm, to determine whether there are abnormalities in the early phases of schizophrenia. We examined the performance of 70 patients with FES and 21 healthy controls on a computerized version of OAT. There were no significant differences between patients and control subjects with respect to the OAT. This finding suggests that the OFC function, as measured by decision-making tasks, is preserved in the early phases of schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic, schizophrenics |
| 3 | J Med Econ 2015 May 18: 357-65 |
| PMID | 25525771 |
| Title | Healthcare utilization and costs of Veterans Health Administration patients with schizophrenia treated with paliperidone palmitate long-acting injection or oral atypical antipsychotics. |
| Abstract | This study aimed to compare real world healthcare costs and resource utilization between patients with schizophrenia treated with paliperidone palmitate long-acting injection (PP) and oral atypical antipsychotics (OAT). Patients (18-64 years) were selected from the Veterans Health Administration dataset (1 July 2007-31 May 2012). Patients with 2+ claims for PP or 2+ claims for the same OAT comprised the two study cohorts with the first prescription date designated as the index date. Participation in the VA healthcare system for 24 months pre- and 12 months post-index, schizophrenia diagnosis (International Classification of Disease 9th Revision Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] code 295.1x-6x, 295.8x-9x) and ?1 claim for an antipsychotic medication during the baseline period were required. Propensity scores and Mahalanobis metric distances with calipers were used to create two matched cohorts. All-cause healthcare utilization and costs for the 12-month follow-up period were compared between matched cohorts. The matching process produced two cohorts of 335 patients with similar baseline characteristics. During the 12-month follow-up period, patients in the PP cohort had lower mean inpatient costs (18,560 vs $31,505, p?=?0.002), lower frequency of hospitalization (34% vs 53%, p?OAT patients. While mean pharmacy costs were higher for the PP cohort ($10,063 vs $4167, p?VA patients, diagnosed with schizophrenia and treated with PP, had lower inpatient costs and admission rates compared to a matched cohort of OAT patients. Total healthcare costs were not significantly different. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic, schizophrenics |