Symptom dimensions and subgroups in childhood-onset schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated symptom dimensions and subgroups in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) cohort and their similarities to adult-onset schizophrenia (AOS) literature.

METHOD: Scores from the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SAPS & SANS) from 125 COS patients were assessed for fit with previously established symptom dimensions from AOS literature using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). K-means cluster analysis of each individual's scores on the best fitting set of dimensions was used to form patient clusters, which were then compared using demographic and clinical data.

RESULTS: CFA showed the SAPS & SANS data was well suited to a 2-dimension solution, including positive and negative dimensions, out of five well established models. Cluster analysis identified three patient groups characterized by different dimension scores: (1) low scores on both dimensions, (2) high negative, low positive scores, and (3) high scores on both dimensions. These groups had different Full scale IQ, Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) scores, ages of onset, and prevalence of some co-morbid behavior disorders (all p<3.57E-03).

CONCLUSION: Our analysis found distinct symptom-based subgroups within the NIMH COS cohort using an established AOS symptom structure. These findings confirm the heterogeneity of COS and were generally consistent with AOS literature.