Relationship between motor function and psychotic symptomatology in young –adult patients with schizophrenia

AbstractMotor abnormalities have been indicated to be a core manifestation of schizophrenia and not just motor side-effects of antipsychotics. However, little is known about whether all of the complete motor function, including fine motor function, muscle strength, and balance is linked to psychotic symptoms. Therefore, this study was to investigate association between complete motor function and psychotic symptoms in young –adult schizophrenia patients who had no extrapyramidal motor symptoms, which were assessed using the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale. Seventy schizophrenia patients were recruited. Fine motor function, muscle strength, and balance were assessed using The McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular D evelopment. Psychotic symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Given gender differences in muscle power, the correlation between muscle strength and psychotic symptoms was analyzed by gender separately. Partial correlation controlling for effects of the chlorpromazine e quivalent dosage of antipsychotics was conducted. Better fine motor function was correlated with less-severe negative symptoms (r = − 0.49,p <  0.001) in the total sample. In men, better muscle strength was correlated with more severe positive symptoms and less-severe negative symptoms (r = 0.41,p = 0.008;r = − 0.55,p <  0.001). The link between motor function and psychotic symptoms may support the cerebellar and basal ganglia h...
Source: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research