Brainstem Audiometry Evoked Response (BAER) Profiling. New Potential Biomarkers in Schizoaffective Disorder and Early Psychosis.
Poster B8, Friday, October 21, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Eva Juselius Baghdassarian1, Tommy Lewander1, Björn M. Nilsson1; 1Uppsala University, 2Uppsala University, 3Uppsala University
Purpose: Using brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) profiling, newly developed biomarkers have identified patients with schizophrenia vs. controls (sensitivity 78.8%, specificity 92.6%) and adult ADHD vs. controls (sensitivity 89.7%, specificity 94.4%). Similar results were obtained in a separate study of >100 participants with blind evaluation. The present blinded pilot study applied these biomarkers in schizoaffective, first episode psychosis (FEP) and prodromal syndrome patients. Material and methods: Seventeen schizoaffective (9 females, 8 males; age range 19-42 years), ten FEP (6 females, 4 males; 18-27 years), 6 prodromal syndrome patients (3 females, 3 males; 19-29 years) were investigated. DSM IV diagnostic criteria (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders; SCID), Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) were used in clinical assessments. Results: The new biomarkers identified 5 schizoaffective patients as schizophrenia positive, 4 as ADHD positive and 9 as negative for schizophrenia and ADHD. Only two FEP patients were positive for schizophrenia; they also fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia one year later. Among the remaining 8 FEPs one was ADHD positive; all were later diagnosed within the affective disorder spectrum. One prodromal syndrome patient was schizophrenia positive; the DSM-IV diagnosis after one year was panic disorder. Two prodromal syndrome patients were ADHD positive; after one year the DSM-IV diagnosis was ADHD plus major depression in one of them, and schizophrenia in the other. Conclusion: The BAER profiling methods in combination with stringent clinical methods deserves to be further explored in differential diagnostics, for discrimination of endophenotypes, subgroups of diagnostic categories and comorbidities.
Topic Area: Electrophysiology