The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia Autism Severity Scale (PAUSS) in young people with autism and schizophrenia

Laura Pina-Camacho; Leticia Boada; Covadonga M Díaz-Caneja; Alicia García-Alcón; Mónica Burdeus; Elena Serrano-Drozdowskyj; David Fraguas; Carmen Moreno; Mara Parellada

doi:10.1016/j.rpsm.2020.05.006

The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia Autism Severity Scale (PAUSS) in young people with autism and schizophrenia

Rev Psiquiatr Salud Ment (Engl Ed). 2020 Jul-Sep;13(3):118-130. doi: 10.1016/j.rpsm.2020.05.006. Epub 2020 Jul 20.

[Article in English, Spanish]

Authors

Laura Pina-Camacho¹, Leticia Boada², Covadonga M Díaz-Caneja², Alicia García-Alcón², Mónica Burdeus², Elena Serrano-Drozdowskyj², David Fraguas², Carmen Moreno², Mara Parellada²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: lpina@iisgm.com.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 32703733
DOI: 10.1016/j.rpsm.2020.05.006

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) share symptoms with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Autistic phenotypic profiles in SSD may be associated with a poor prognosis. We aimed to assess the evidences for reliability and convergent validity of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS) Autism Severity Scale (PAUSS) in a sample of young people with ASD and SSD, and to use the PAUSS to explore correlates of "autistic profiles" in the SSD sample.

Materials and methods: ASD (n=33, age=13-27 years) and SSD subjects (n=26, age=16-35 years) underwent PANSS, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS-G), Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) assessments. We derived PAUSS total/domain scores from the PANSS and applied these back-to-back with ADOS calibrated severity scores (CSS), ADI-R current behavior algorithm (CBA) scores, and SRS scores.

Results: Our results show evidence for an acceptable PAUSS score reliability and convergent validity both in the ASD and SSD samples. PAUSS total and socio-communication scores significantly correlated with ADOS Overall/Social Affect CSS, both in ASD and in SSD. SSD with higher PAUSS scores ("autistic-SSD") showed Overall/Social Affect CSS scores positioned in between ASD and "non-autistic SSD". The PAUSS total score was significantly associated with global functioning in SSD (adjusted R²=0.311).

Conclusions: There seems to be evidence for the reliability and validity of PAUSS scores for quantifying autism symptom severity transdiagnostically and to identify "autistic phenotypes" in adolescents/young adults with SSD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; PANSS; PAUSS; Schizophrenia spectrum disorders; Trastornos del espectro de la esquizofrenia; Trastornos del espectro del autismo; Validación; Validation.