Subtle motor impairment is an important aspect of neurological soft signs (NSS) which are frequently found in psychiatric patients-particularly schizophrenic patients. On the basis of data collected in previous studies using two different NSS scales, the most reliable and discriminative signs of motor impairment were identified to construct a brief 10-item rating scale. Subsequently, the new scale was applied to a sample of subacute patients with schizophrenic psychoses (N = 82) and healthy controls (N = 33). Factor analysis identified two factors which were labeled "motor coordination" and "motor sequencing". Both the total score and the subscores showed high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. There were highly significant group differences on the total score and the subscores as well as on each individual task. The scale has high sensitivity (84.1%) and specificity (87.9%) indicating that it may provide an effective instrument for the screening of subjects with neurodysfunction as well as for monitoring motor dysfunction in the clinical course of psychiatric disorders.     «

Subtle motor impairment is an important aspect of neurological soft signs (NSS) which are frequently found in psychiatric patients-particularly schizophrenic patients. On the basis of data collected in previous studies using two different NSS scales, the most reliable and discriminative signs of motor impairment were identified to construct a brief 10-item rating scale. Subsequently, the new scale was applied to a sample of subacute patients with schizophrenic psychoses (N = 82) and healthy cont...     »