Age matters in the prevalence and clinical significance of ultra-high-risk for psychosis symptoms and criteria in 22q11 Deletion Syndrome
Poster A10, Thursday, October 20, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Marco Armando1,2, Maude Schneider1,3, Maria Pontillo2, Stefano Vicari2, Martin Debbané4,5, Frauke Schultze-Lutter6, Stephan Eliez1,7; 1Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 2Child and Adolescence Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Children Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy, 3Center for Contextual Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 4Developmental Clinical Psychology Unit, Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 5Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, UK, 6University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy University of Bern, 7Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is currently recognized as one of the highest known risk factor for schizophrenia. The detection of patients with 22q11.2DS at particularly high risk (UHR) of conversion to psychosis hence appears as an important area of investigation. Previous studies suggested that the clinical significance of UHR criteria is variable in 22q11DS. The goal of the present study is to explore whether age of presentation of UHR symptoms and criteria may explain part of this variability. 111 participants diagnosed with 22q11DS (age: 8-30 years; 15.7+/-4.7) were assessed using the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes. Information on axis-I diagnoses, level of functioning, and IQ were also collected. The prevalence of any UHR symptom was 38.7%, while 27% of the sample fulfilled all the UHR requirements. Our results indicated no significant influence of age on the presence of UHR symptoms and criteria. Moreover, age did not significantly modulate the association between UHR symptoms and level of functioning. However, patients from the younger age groups were more likely to meet UHR criteria in the presence of UHR symptoms compared to the adult group. 22q11DS is associated with a 3.8-fold increase of being diagnosed with UHR symptoms and a 20.8-fold increase of meeting UHR criteria. However and contrary to what has been observed in the general population, the presence of UHR symptoms and their effect on functioning was not modulated by age, suggesting that UHR symptoms are present as a trait risk factor for psychosis in 22q11DS.
Topic Area: Diagnosis and Phenomenology