Cognitive and Psychiatric Predictors to Psychosis in Velocardiofacial Syndrome: A 3-Year Follow-Up Study
Accepted 5 January 2010. published online 02 March 2010.
Objective
To predict prodromal psychosis in adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS).
Method
A total of 70 youth with VCFS, 27 siblings of youth with VCFS, and 25 community controls were followed from childhood (mean age = 11.8 years) into mid-adolescence (mean age = 15.0 years). Psychological tests measuring intelligence, academic achievement, learning/memory, attention, and executive functioning as well as measures of parent and clinician ratings of child psychiatric functioning were completed at both time points.
Results
Major depressive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder diagnoses increased in the VCFS sample. With very low false positive rates, the best predictor of adolescent prodromal psychotic symptoms was parent ratings of childhood odd/eccentric symptoms and child performance on a measure of executive functioning, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
Conclusions
Similar to the non-VCFS prodromal psychosis literature, a combination of cognitive and psychiatric variables appears to predict psychosis in adolescence. A child with VCFS who screens positive is noteworthy and demands clinical attention.
State University of New York–Upstate Medical University
Correspondence to Dr. Kevin Antshel, SUNY–Upstate Medical University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210
This article was reviewed under and accepted by Ad Hoc Editor Daniel S. Pine, M.D.
This work was funded by National Institute of Mental Health grants MH64824 and MH65481 to Wendy Kates.
Disclosure: Dr. Faraone, in the past year, has received consulting fees and has been on Advisory Boards for Eli Lilly, Ortho-McNeil, and Shire Development, and has received research support from Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Shire, and the National Institutes of Health. In previous years, Dr. Faraone has received consulting fees or has been on advisory boards, or has been a speaker for the following sources: Shire, McNeil, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly. In previous years he has received research support from Eli Lilly, Shire, Pfizer, and the National Institutes of Health. Drs. Antshel, Shprintzen, Fremont, and Kates, and Ms. Higgins report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
ABSTRACT