RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEUROLOGICAL SOFT SIGNS AND SYNDROMES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Past research on the importance of 'soft' neurological signs in schizo phrenia has often not examined the relationship between specific group s of neurological signs and different dimensions of schizophrenia psyc hopathology, Gender differences in the reported relationships have nev er been explored. In this paper we describe a study of 100 DSM-III-R ( 65 male and 35 female) schizophrenic patients who were rated for neuro logical 'soft signs' with the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES) (1), and for schizophrenic symptomatology with the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and the Scale for Assessment of Positive Sym ptoms (SAPS), Following a factor analysis of NES items, differential r elationships were examined between the five derived NES factors and th ree well-established dimensions of schizophrenic symptomatology, namel y psychomotor poverty, disorganization and reality distortion. Our res ults failed to show any relationship between NES dimensions and either the reality distortion or disorganization dimensions. There was a mod est but differentially significant relationship between psychomotor po verty and an extrapyramidal factor on the NES. This relationship was s hown only by male subjects, and was influenced by duration of illness but not by age or neuroleptic medication, On the other hand, female su bjects showed a significant relationship between psychomotor poverty a nd an NES factor reflecting attention and initiative, and between real ity distortion and coordination/sequencing of motor activity. These re lationships in female subjects were, relative to relationships for mal e subjects, more independent of the effect of medication and duration of illness.