Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is one of the most incapacitating and financially disastrous medical conditions and ranks among the most severe and burdensome diseases in the world due to the onset, progression, and frequency of disability. Few researches have been reported that SCZ is linked to a number of neurophysiological abnormalities, including changes in brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs).

Aims and Objectives: The current study aimedto measure brainstem function using BAEPs in patients with SCZ and compare their findings with healthy controls.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional case–control study was conducted on 51 schizophrenic drug-naive patients selected from the outpatient department of psychiatry, fulfilling the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV, aged 18-28 years, male and female, with a matching control group of 50 subjects recruited from patients’ relatives. For assessing the severity of SCZ, the positive and negative syndrome scale was utilized. The BAEPs were recorded using a brainstem-evoked response audiometry (BERA) device (NeuroStim-NS 2). Data were analyzed using Independent t-test and Mann–Whitney test based on normality. P-value was considered significant at P < 0.05, P < 0.01 level.

Results: A significant difference was observed in patients and control group BAEPs. The absolute latency of waves I and III in the right ear, waves I and V, IPL I-III in the left ear was shown to be significantly different. The results demonstrate that the patient group’s mean latency was higher than the controls.

Conclusion: Based on findings, it was concluded that abnormal BAEPs in schizophrenic patients might be attributed to their primary symptom of discontinuity in perceptual and other cerebral functions and slower transmission in the lower brainstem auditory pathway and decreased activity at the brainstem level.

Key words: Schizophrenia; Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials; Auditory Brainstem Responses