Evaluating the utility of digital phenotyping to predict health outcomes in schizophrenia: protocol for the HOPE-S observational study.

Introduction: The course of schizophrenia illness is characterised by recurrent relapses which are associated with adverse clinical outcomes such as treatment-resistance, functional and cognitive decline. Early identification is essential and relapse prevention remains a primary treatment goal for long-term management of schizophrenia. With the ubiquity of devices such as smartphones, objective digital biomarkers can be harnessed and may offer alternative means for symptom monitoring and relapse prediction.

Comparative study of emotion recognition and theory of mind between major depressive disorder and schizophrenia.

Background: Social cognition as a transdiagnostic construct between major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) is not well understood. This may be attributed to the variability of social cognitive measures indexing the same construct. This study aims to compare emotion recognition and theory of mind domains, known to be impaired in SCZ, between MDD and SCZ.

Large-scale evaluation of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptom architecture in schizophrenia.

Although the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is widely utilized in schizophrenia research, variability in specific item loading exist, hindering reproducibility and generalizability of findings across schizophrenia samples. We aim to establish a common PANSS factor structure from a large multi-ethnic sample and validate it against a meta-analysis of existing PANSS models. Schizophrenia participants (N = 3511) included in the current study were part of the Singapore Translational and Clinical Research Program (STCRP) and the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE).

Predicting Real-World Functioning in Schizophrenia: The Relative Contributions of Neurocognition, Functional Capacity, and Negative Symptoms.

Neurocognition and functional capacity are commonly reported predictors of real-world functioning in schizophrenia. However, the additional impact of negative symptoms, specifically its subdomains, i.e.

Association Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cognitive Impairment in People With Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors, including metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its constituent criteria. Cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors can worsen cognition in the general population and may contribute to cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

Objective: To study the association between cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment in individuals with schizophrenia.

Clinical determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in individuals with schizophrenia.

Introduction: Modifiable lifestyle factors such as physical activity (PA) have ameliorative effects on commonly reported health conditions in schizophrenia like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Similarly, reduction in sedentary behaviour (SB) promotes better physical health. However, engaging individuals with schizophrenia in PA and less SB can be challenging because of symptoms of schizophrenia.

Longitudinal Cognitive Changes in Young Individuals at Ultrahigh Risk for Psychosis.

Importance: Cognitive deficits are a key feature of risk for psychosis. Longitudinal changes in cognitive architecture may be associated with the social and occupational functioning in young people.

Objectives: To examine longitudinal profiles of cognition in individuals at ultrahigh risk (UHR) for psychosis, compared with healthy controls, and to investigate the association of cognition with functioning.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment as a screening instrument for cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.

Background: Cognitive impairment is one of the core features of schizophrenia. For its evaluation, current clinical practice relies on detailed neuropsychological batteries which require trained testers and considerable amount of time to administer. Therefore, a brief and reliable screening tool for identification of overall cognitive impairment prior to a detailed comprehensive neurocognitive assessment is needed in a busy clinical setting.

The Impact of Medication Anticholinergic Burden on Cognitive Performance in People With Schizophrenia.

Background: Cognitive deficits are prevalent in people with schizophrenia and associated with functional impairments. In addition to antipsychotics, pharmacotherapy in schizophrenia often includes other psychotropics, and some of these agents possess anticholinergic properties, which may impair cognition. The objective of this study was to explore the association between medication anticholinergic burden and cognition in schizophrenia.

Association between serum levels of bioavailable vitamin D and negative symptoms in first-episode psychosis.

Total vitamin D levels had been commonly reported to be lowered in patients with chronic psychotic illnesses in countries from the higher latitudes. However, studies on patients with first episode psychosis (FEP) are limited. In this study we investigated serum concentrations of total and bioavailable vitamin D levels in FEP patients compared to healthy controls and the association between symptom severity and vitamin D components.

Baseline social amotivation predicts 1-year functioning in UHR subjects: A validation and prospective investigation.

Social amotivation and diminished expression have been reported to underlie negative symptomatology in schizophrenia. In the current study we sought to establish and validate these negative symptom domains in a large cohort of schizophrenia subjects (n=887) and individuals who are deemed to be Ultra-High Risk (UHR) for psychosis. Confirmatory factor analysis conducted on PANSS item domains demonstrate that the dual negative symptom domains exist in schizophrenia and UHR subjects.

Unraveling the relationship between obesity, schizophrenia and cognition.

Introduction: Previous studies investigating the relationship between obesity and cognition as well as gender differences in these relationships reported equivocal results. Here, we examined age, years of education, schizophrenia, and gender differences which might affect the relationship between obesity and cognition.

Methods: 1012 healthy controls and 707 participants with schizophrenia were recruited.