Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: Neurodevelopmental Influences on Psychotic Symptoms and Psychopathological Profiles
M. Di Luzio, M. Pontillo, I. Bertoncini, B. D’Aiello, R. Averna, M. Labonia, S. VicariIntroduction
Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder (COSS) represent a very early-onset subtype of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, typically manifesting before age 13. Although interest in COSS has grown in recent years, studies exploring its clinical characteristics remain scarce.
Objectives
This study aimed to analyze clinical differences within the COSS group based on the presence of psychiatric or neurodevelopmental comorbidities to delineate distinct psychopathological profiles of childhood psychosis. We hypothesized that COSS presents variable symptomatology depending on the presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, or the absence of comorbidities.
Methods
Seventy children diagnosed with COSS were selected at the onset of psychotic symptoms from admission to a specialized very early-onset psychosis clinical service. Participants were assessed and divided into three subgroups based on comorbidity profiles: COSS with neurodevelopment disorder comorbidity, COSS with psychiatric disorder comorbidity, COSS without psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorder comorbidities. Psychotic symptoms were indexed using the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndrome.
Results
The Statistical analysis of the subgroups revealed that COSS with neurodevelopmental disorder comorbidity exhibited a distinct profile, characterized by earlier onset of psychotic symptoms, lower intelligence quotient, greater disorganization symptoms, and fewer negative symptoms compared to COSS with psychiatric disorder comorbidity. COSS with psychiatric disorder comorbidity and COSS without comorbidities showed more similarities with each other than with COSS with neurodevelopmental disorder comorbidity, suggesting a significant influence of neurodevelopmental comorbidities on clinical presentation.
Image 1: Long description.