Abstracts of the 4th Biennial Schizophrenia International Research Conference / Schizophrenia Research 153, Supplement 1 (2014) S1–S384 S297

Results: When examining six subscales derived from the PANSS, first-

episode patients having been exposed to prenatal tobacco smoke had a

lower severity of deficit symptoms, computed as (N1 blunted affect + N6

lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation) – (P7 hostility + G2 anxiety +

G3 guilt feelings + G6 depression): −7.1±3.1 compared to −4.0±3.3, t=3.69,

df=91, p<0.001. They also had a greater severity of reality distortion (P1

delusions + P3 hallucinations + G9 unusual thought content): 13.6±2.8

compared to 11.6±3.0, t=2.65, df=91, p=0.01. The latter finding appeared

to be driven by greater severity of hallucinations (5.2±1.3 compared to

4.0±1.6, t=3.06, df=91, p=0.003). Controlling for effects of patients’ gender

and smoking status (using factorial analyses of variance) attenuated but did

not explain these effects, and no significant interactions were observed.

Discussion: Although these initial results require replication, there appears

to be an association between fetal tobacco smoke exposure and lesser

deficit symptoms and greater hallucination severity at the time of the ini-

tial hospitalization. Further research on this potential fetal environmental

exposure among individuals with schizophrenia is warranted.

Poster #T22

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF FAMILY INTERVENTIONS FOR PATIENTS

PRESENTING A FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Séverine Bessero1, Fabrice Chantraine1, Manuel Tettamanti1, Logos Curtis2

1Hopitaux Universitaires de Geneve; 2Geneva University Hospitals

Background: Many studies have indicated that a good family functioning

facilitates patient recovery (O’Brien et al., 2006). In this regard, some

authors have underlined the importance of understanding patients’ per-

ception of family functioning considering it could predict their clinical

outcome. Despite a positive effect of single family treatment in terms of

patients’ outcome, questions still remain regarding the degree and type

of family involvement needed at various stages of a psychotic disorder,

in particular the earliest ones. Moreover, very few studies have focused

on outcomes for the relatives of people with psychosis (Lobban et al.,

2013). On this background, we aimed to explore the link between family

interventions, patients’ clinical outcome and changes in family functioning

as perceived by patients and family members. We also aimed to analyse

which characteristics of family interventions are operating.

Methods: 16 young adults aged from 18 to 25 (mean=22.31) hospitalized

for a first episode psychosis in our inpatient unit and their parents were

included. Every family member attending the sessions rated separately, at

admission and discharge, the general functioning subscale of the Family As-

sessment Device (FAD) (Epstein et al., 1983). Patients were assessed during

the first week and before discharge for symptom severity with the BPRS-24

(Ventura et al., 1993). Pearsons’s correlation coefficient was calculated be-

tween FAD mean scores of a patient and his/her family members’, between

FAD mean scores and BPRS factor mean scores, as well as with the delay to

first family session and the number of family sessions. Paired t-tests were

used for comparison of BPRS mean scores at admission and discharge, as

well as of FAD scores at admission and discharge. A subset of families were

rated by therapists as to the usefulness of family interventions and family

functioning improvement.

Results: When considering FAD items separately, only the item 31 “there

are lots of bad feelings in the family” score decreased significantly for

the patient group (t = 2.38; p<0.05). No other significant difference for

perception of general functioning between admission and discharge was

noticed for any of the three groups (patient, father, mother). We observed a

significant positive correlation between perception of family functioning by

the mother at admission and overall negative symptoms at discharge (.643;

p<0.05). Moreover, we noticed a significant negative correlation between

perception of family functioning by the mother at discharge and degree

of manic symptom improvement during hospitalization (−0.892; p<0.05).

Neither perception of family functioning, nor BPRS scores were significantly

correlated to delay to first family session and to number of family sessions

neither at admission nor at discharge.

Discussion: Our preliminary findings show some associations between

perception of impaired family functioning by the mother and patient

symptoms at discharge and changes of symptoms during hospitalization;

it suggests that perception of good family functioning by family members

may potentiate patients’ recovery. Further patient recruitment and family

assessment should help to better understand what type of interventions

is required for what early psychosis families and to better understand the

interplay of psychopathology and family functioning.

Poster #T23

AFFECTIVE PROSODY IN REMITTED AND NON-REMITTED

SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS COMPARED TO HEALTHY CONTROLS

Falko Biedermann1,2, Baumgartner Susanne1, Alexandra Kaufmann1,

Georg Kemmler1, Christine Hoertnagl1, Christian G. Widschwendter1,

Nursen Yalcin1, W. Wolfgang Fleischhacker3, Alex Hofer3

1Medical University of Innsbruck; 2University for Psychiatry and

Psychotherapy, Department for Biological Psychiatry; 3Medical University of

Innsbruck, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Background: Affective prosody perception is impaired in schizophrenia pa-

tients and considered as an immanent symptom of this devastating disease.

It is at least partially responsible for the poor functional outcome of these

patients. This study investigates quantitative and qualitative differences of

these deficits in remitted and non-remitted patients compared to healthy

controls.

Methods: In this cross sectional study we enrolled outpatients between

19 and 65 years of age, who had been symptomatically stable for half a

year under antipsychotic treatment. Remission was defined, following the

remission criteria of Andreasen et al (2005). Affective prosody perception

was investigated by using one subtest of the Comprehensive Affective Test-

ing System (CATS). In this computer based assessment, subjects had listen

to 22 spoke sentences and to judge each with regards to its emotion by

ignoring its content. Subjects could choose between fear, anger, happiness,

grief, and a neutral mood.

Results: All groups were comparable regarding sociodemographic charac-

teristics. So far, we enrolled 42 patients (23 remitted and 19 non-remitted)

with schizophrenia and 45 healthy controls. Cats total scores were signifi-

cantly lower in non-remitted patients than in remitted patients and healthy

controls. The last two of them were comparable. All schizophrenia patients

showed lower scores in recognising anger compared to healthy controls.

Grief and happiness were detected significantly worse in the non-remitted

than in the remitted patient group.

Discussion: Our results confirm earlier findings and demonstrate deficits in

affective prosody perception in acute episodes as well as during remission.

Independently of the remission status the recognition of anger in the

emotion of a voice seems to be impaired in the both patients groups. To

investigate the influence of these deficits on the functional outcome in

schizophrenia patients, more studies are needed.

Poster #T24

THE IMPACT OF CONSANGUINITY ON RISK OF EXTENDED PSYCHOSIS

PHENOTYPE

Tolga Binbay1, Köksal Alptekin2, Hayriye Elbi3, Halis Ulas2,

Marjan Drukker4, Jim van Os5

1Dokuz eylul Univ. School of Medicine; 2Psychiatry Dept., Medical School of

Dokuz Eylul University; 3Egean University, School of Medicine; 4Dept. of

Psychiatry and Psychology, Maastricht University; 5Maastricht University

Background: Familial liability to both severe and common mental disorder

predicts psychotic disorder and psychotic symptoms. Consanguinity may

be used as proxy in models examining the interaction between the genetic

risk and the individual for psychosis.

Methods: In a representative general population sample (n=4011) in Izmir,

Turkey, the full spectrum of expression of psychosis phenotype represent-

ing: (0) no symptoms, (1) subclinical psychotic experiences, (2) low-impact

psychotic symptoms, (3) high-impact psychotic symptoms and (4) full-

blown clinical psychotic disorder was assessed in relation to consanguinity

(any marriage within the relatives as a proxy for familial liability). Consan-

guinity was assessed as: (0) not related, (1) first-degree cousins, (2) second

or distant degree cousins. Statistical analysis included age, gender, years of

education and any mental disorder within the family (parents and siblings).

Results: Any marriage between first-degree cousins was significantly asso-

ciated with the extended psychosis phenotype (β: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.01–0.23;

p<0.05), with a prominent impact on the syndromal end of the phenotype