Overview of the clinical implementation of a study exploring social withdrawal in patients with schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease

Publication date: Available online 22 June 2018Source: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral ReviewsAuthor(s): Amy C. Bilderbeck, Brenda W.J.H. Penninx, Celso Arango, Nic van der Wee, René Kahn, Inge Winter-van Rossum, Anja Hayen, Martien J. Kas, Anke Post, Gerard R. DawsonABSTRACTTrans-diagnostic, domain- or symptom-focused approaches have been heralded as advancing psychiatric research, but relatively few clinical research programmes have been undertaken to leverage their potential. In this manuscript we describe the approach and protocol for an exploratory study, PRISM (Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Stratified Markers), that will be conducted to explore the biomarkers in schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) that may be related to a common symptom, social withdrawal. Patient participants (N = 72 SZ and N = 72 AD study completers), will complete a series of fMRI, EEG, and behavioural paradigms, as well as contributing blood-derived (e.g. epigenetic) and smartphone data related to social behaviour. Self- as well as caregiver- and researcher-reported assessments will be provided to characterise social withdrawal. Normative data will also be collected from a group of healthy controls (N = 48 study completers), half of whom will be matched in terms of age and gender distribution to the SZ and AD group, respectively. Thus we will explore both differentiation and cross-diagnostic overlap in the biomarkers associated with different levels of social withdra...
Source: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research