Cognitive and Psychiatric Predictors to Psychosis in Velocardiofacial Syndrome: A 3-Year Follow-Up Study

Kevin M. Antshel, Robert Shprintzen, Wanda Fremont, Anne Marie Higgins, Stephen V. Faraone, Wendy R. Kates

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

112 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)333-344
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume49
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • 22q11 deletion syndrome
  • cognition
  • longitudinal
  • psychosis
  • velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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