No increased levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in smokers with schizophrenia.

The prevalence of smoking cigarettes has repeatedly been found to be greater in schizophrenia as compared with other psychiatric patients and the general population. Patients with schizophrenia have been found to engage in heavy smoking and consumption of higher doses of nicotine, probably by deeper inhalation of cigarettes. The aim of the current study was to assess nicotine exposure through smoking by measuring urinary cotinine, the major nicotine metabolite, in a group of smokers from Greece of smokers with schizophrenia and smokers from the general population.

Clock drawing test in institutionalized patients with schizophrenia compared with Alzheimer's disease patients.

The impaired performance of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients on the clock drawing test (CDT) relative to age-matched normal controls is a well-documented finding in the literature. On the other hand, there is sparse information regarding the use of this test in schizophrenia. We examined three groups of subjects matched for gender and education: institutionalized patients with schizophrenia (n = 32), patients with AD (n = 32), and normal controls (n = 36).