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Introduction: Negative symptoms are a core feature of schizophrenia. The CAINS (Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms) is an empirically-developed "second generation" scale for the assessment of negative symptoms. Objectives: We examined the psychometric properties of the CAINS scale and their comparative value regarding the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) for predicting psychosocial outcome. Methods: A total of 98 consecutive admissions with schizophrenia spectrum psychosis were administered the SANS at admission and discharge times, and the CAINS at discharge time. The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) were used for the assessment of psychosocial functioning. Results: The CAINS motivation/pleasure and expression subscales correlated significantly with all of the SANS subscales, both for admission and discharge, with the exception of attention. The CAINS motivation/pleasure score was significantly associated with other psychopathological dimensions at discharge, such as positive, disorganized and illness unawareness dimensions but inversely with mania dimension. And the CAINS expression subscale was only inversely and significantly associated with mania dimension at admission. Factor analysis of CAINS items revealed a two-dimensional structure that explained the 81.62% of the variance. Both CAINS and SANS subscales were strongly associated with WHODAS and GAF psychosocial functioning scores. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the CAINS Spanish version is a valid tool for measuring negative symptoms in schizophrenia. And despite both high scores on both CAINS and SANS scales showed significant associations with poor functioning, it seems that the associations of CAINS scores were less strong than those of SANS scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cognitive impairments in psychotic disorders have been reported as a continuum in severity, from schizophrenia spectrum disorders (more severe) to affective disorders (less severe) (Hill et al 2013). However, findings to date have been inconsistent (Reichenberg et al 2019). Objectives: To establish the cognitive profiles in the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) of a sample of patients with psychotic disorders, according to their diagnosis. Methods: 172 outpatients with psychosis were assessed with the MCCB. Patients were grouped considering their diagnosis: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD, n=69); Affective disorders (AD, n=46), Schizoaffective disorders (SAD, n=39), Other psychoses(OP, n=18), including patients with one or more psychotic episodes in the past which remitted and do notmeet diagnostic criteria for a current psychotic disorder. Results: Patients with SSD showed worse performance on attention, verbal and visual learning, and combined score of the MCCB, with respect to the OP group. They also underperformed AD group in verbal learning and social cognition. AD patients showed worse performance than OP patients in processing speed and visual learning tasks. SAD patient only showed significant differences in attention scores, with respect to OP patients (Table 1, Fig. 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Network analysis represents a promising approach to study the relationships between Clinical and cognitive variables in psychiatric disorders. However, only one study to date has studied cognition in patients with psychosis using network analysis (Chang et al 2019). Objectives: To examine the relationships between a set of neuropsychological variables using the network analysis in a sample of patients with first episode psychosis (FEP). Methods: 266 patients with a FEP were assessed with a set of neuropsychological tests, including measures of premorbid IQ, attention, working memory, verbal memory, processing speed, executive functions and social cognition. Network analysis was applied using the qgraph package of R-Studio software, to obtain the relationships among cognitive scores controlling for the influence of all the other variables in the network. The interrelations between the nodes in the cognitive network of this sample of patients with FEP showed a strong association between the measures of each neuropsychological test. Cognitive domains established a priori were validated by the network only in those measures that belonged to the same test (verbal memory and social cognition). However, measures corresponding to processing speed and executive function showed different interconnection patterns, according to the tests and not to the cognitive domains. Conclusions: The network shows strong relationships between the variables of each test. However, the strength of some of the connections do not correspond with 'a priori' cognitive domains when different tests are involved. Further research is needed to ascertain whether this structure is replicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is a key feature in patients with psychotic disorders. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief tool that has been shown to be effective in identifying mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. Objectives: This study explores the usefulness of this instrument to detect cognitive impairment in long-term psychotic disorders. Methods: One hundred-forty stabilized patients were re-evaluated more than 15 years after a First Episode of Psychosis (FEP). Patients were psychopathologically assessed, and the MoCA test and Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) battery were administered. Two cut-off scores for cognitive impairment using the MATRICS battery were applied (T score <40 and <30). Results: Concurrent validation was found between the total scores of the MoCA and MATRICS. We also found significant associations between 5 out of 7 MoCA subtests (visuospatial-executive, attention, language, abstraction and delayed recall) and MATRICS subtests but not for the naming and orientation MoCA subtests. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis suggested a <25 cut-off for cognitive impairment instead of the original <26. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the MoCA test is a useful screening instrument for assessing cognitive impairment in psychotic patients and has some advantages over other available instruments, such as its ease-of-use and short administration time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]