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AUSTIN, TEX. – Patients with schizophrenia who are trying to quit smoking may display altered results on various psychiatric tests, according to preliminary findings presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Kristi Sacco, Psy.D., of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and her colleagues noted that patients with schizophrenia have well-documented cognitive deficits, including sensory-motor gating, as measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response. It also has been documented that such persons have high rates of smoking, Dr. Sacco said.
Her group examined the correlation between PPI and results on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in 12 smokers with schizophrenia, 7 nonsmokers with schizophrenia, 13 nonpsychiatric control smokers, and 12 nonpsychiatric control nonsmokers.
At 3 years' follow-up, they found a significant association in smokers with schizophrenia between PPI and the “categories completed” WCST measure. However, no such correlation was found between these outcomes in the other three groups.
Thus, it should come as no surprise to see patients with schizophrenia who quit smoking display attentional and processing difficulties, Dr. Sacco said in an interview. That is especially the case if patients “go cold-turkey with their quitting,” she said.
AUSTIN, TEX. – Patients with schizophrenia who are trying to quit smoking may display altered results on various psychiatric tests, according to preliminary findings presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Kristi Sacco, Psy.D., of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and her colleagues noted that patients with schizophrenia have well-documented cognitive deficits, including sensory-motor gating, as measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response. It also has been documented that such persons have high rates of smoking, Dr. Sacco said.
Her group examined the correlation between PPI and results on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in 12 smokers with schizophrenia, 7 nonsmokers with schizophrenia, 13 nonpsychiatric control smokers, and 12 nonpsychiatric control nonsmokers.
At 3 years' follow-up, they found a significant association in smokers with schizophrenia between PPI and the “categories completed” WCST measure. However, no such correlation was found between these outcomes in the other three groups.
Thus, it should come as no surprise to see patients with schizophrenia who quit smoking display attentional and processing difficulties, Dr. Sacco said in an interview. That is especially the case if patients “go cold-turkey with their quitting,” she said.
AUSTIN, TEX. – Patients with schizophrenia who are trying to quit smoking may display altered results on various psychiatric tests, according to preliminary findings presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Kristi Sacco, Psy.D., of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and her colleagues noted that patients with schizophrenia have well-documented cognitive deficits, including sensory-motor gating, as measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response. It also has been documented that such persons have high rates of smoking, Dr. Sacco said.
Her group examined the correlation between PPI and results on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in 12 smokers with schizophrenia, 7 nonsmokers with schizophrenia, 13 nonpsychiatric control smokers, and 12 nonpsychiatric control nonsmokers.
At 3 years' follow-up, they found a significant association in smokers with schizophrenia between PPI and the “categories completed” WCST measure. However, no such correlation was found between these outcomes in the other three groups.
Thus, it should come as no surprise to see patients with schizophrenia who quit smoking display attentional and processing difficulties, Dr. Sacco said in an interview. That is especially the case if patients “go cold-turkey with their quitting,” she said.