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Objective: Hypovitaminosis D has been associated with respectively major depressive disorder, schizophrenia (SZ) and cognitive disorders in the general population, and with positive and negative symptoms and metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia. The objectives were (i) to determine the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D and associated factors (with a focus on depression and cognition) in a national non-selected multicentric sample of community-dwelling SZ subjects (ii) to determine the rate of SZ patients being administered vitamin D supplementation and associated factors., Methods: A comprehensive 2 daylong clinical and neuropsychological battery was administered in 140 SZ subjects included between 2015 and 2017 in the national FondaMental Expert Center (FACE-SZ) Cohort. Hypovitaminosis D was defined by blood vitamin D level <25 nM. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale depressive subscore and current anxiety disorder by the Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Disorders., Results: Hypovitaminosis D has been found in 21.4% of the subjects and none of them had received vitamin D supplementation in the previous 12 months. In multivariate analysis, hypovitaminosis D has been significantly associated with respectively higher depressive symptoms (aOR = 1.18 [1.03-1.35], p = 0.02) and current anxiety disorder (aOR = 6.18 [2.15-17.75], p = 0.001), independently of age and gender. No association of hypovitaminosis D with respectively positive and negative symptoms, cognitive scores or other biological variables has been found (all p > 0.05), however, a trend toward significance has been found for metabolic syndrome (p = 0.06). Vitamin D supplementation has been administered during the previous 12 months in only 8.5% of the subjects but was associated with lower depressive symptoms (aOR = 0.67 [0.46-0.98], p = 0.04) and lower rate of current anxiety disorder (aOR = 0.06 [0.01-0.66], p = 0.02) compared to patients with hypovitaminosis D., Conclusion: Hypovitaminosis D is frequent and associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety disorders in schizophrenia. Vitamin D supplementation is associated with lower depressive and anxiety symptoms, however patients with hypovitaminosis D remain insufficiently treated., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The association between advanced paternal age (APA) and increased risk of schizophrenia (SZ) is well established. The objectives of the present study were to further determine if SZ participants with APA (APA+), versus those without (APA-), had: (i) different illness characteristics; (ii) different responses to antipsychotic medication; and (iii) different cognitive characteristics. Participants were a non-selected representative multicentric sample of stabilized community-dwelling people diagnosed with SZ included in the FACE-SZ cohort. 389 participants (73% males, mean aged 32.7 years, mean illness duration 10.8 years) formed the study sample, with each comprehensively evaluated, clinically and neuropsychologically, over 2 days. 118 participants (30.3%) were defined as APA+ according to their father's age at birth (≥35 years). APA+ was associated with a wide range of cognitive dysfunctions in univariate analyses. In multivariate analyses, the only significant difference was the age at onset, with a mean 1.6 year earlier in APA+, compared to APA- (20.7 vs. 22.3 years; p=0.02). This difference is independent of sociodemographic characteristics and I.Q. No association with clinical symptomatology and treatment response was found. The present study supports the neomutation hypothesis and confirms APA as a relevant clinical variable to discriminate potential schizophrenia subtypes. Potential underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are discussed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The objectives of the present study were to describe the prescribing patterns for psychosocial therapies in routine clinical practice and to assess the impact of psychoeducation on symptoms and social autonomy of patients with schizophrenia. We used data from the nationwide French ESPASS observational cohort study including 5967 patients with schizophrenia, which provided data on exposure to psychosocial therapies from 4961 (83%) participants. Patients who initiated psychosocial therapy within the first 3 months of study onset (n=143) were compared to patients not subject to psychosocial therapy throughout follow up (n=4268), using parametric tests. Symptom severity and social autonomy at 6 months from baseline were compared between patients undergoing psychoeducation (n=117) and patients not subject to psychosocial therapy, matched (1:1) on propensity scores. Patients who initiated psychosocial therapy were significantly younger, more severely ill and used less often antipsychotic drugs than patients in the reference group. At 6 months, patients who initiated psychoeducation and their matched referents did not differ significantly in terms of symptom severity, but their level of improvement in social autonomy was significantly greater (p=0.005). In routine clinical practice, psychoeducation in addition to antipsychotic drugs provides some benefit among schizophrenia patients, particularly in terms of social autonomy., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Individuals with schizophrenia are impaired in their neurocognition and present cognitive biases. These impairments may lead to a deficit in recognizing helping intentions of others. To investigate recognition of help, we designed a card-guessing game (Virtual Help Recognition Paradigm) involving two successive virtual agents asking questions to the participant at different moments of the game. These questions were either empathetic (i.e. on the subject's feelings) or non-empathetic (i.e. on technical aspects of the game). We assessed how much the participant felt that the virtual agent had helped him and, her attitude and personality traits. We measured how much the participant trusted the virtual agent with a monetary allocation procedure. Twenty individuals with schizophrenia and twenty healthy controls were recruited. The controls' ratings demonstrated that they interpreted empathetic questioning as helping and rewarded it positively with an increased monetary allocation. Participants with schizophrenia had a reduced perception of the differences between the two agents. Only the rating concerning the "interest/attention" of the agent toward these participants yielded significant differences among conditions. Hypothetically, individuals with schizophrenia take into account the fact they are the object of another's attention, but may fail to infer a helping intention and to behave accordingly., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)