Delusion-proneness displays comorbidity with traits of autistic-spectrum disorders and ADHD

There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting a significant comorbidity between psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism-spectrum disorders (ASD). Recently, research on psychosis-proneness in otherwise healthy individuals has been a promising way to better understand the mechanisms underlying psychosis. As both ADHD and ASD symptoms show a normal distribution in the general population, such trait comorbidity may confound studies on psychosis-proneness. Thus, understanding the extent to which psychosis-proneness relates to ADHD and ASD symptoms in healthy subjects is crucial for studies focusing on at-risk or psychosis-prone populations. In the present paper we tested the robustness of overlap between psychosis-proneness and ADHD/ASD symptoms, by studying correlations between the scores of three commonly-used questionnaires assessing delusion-proneness (Peters’ Delusion Inventory), ADHD tendencies (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale) and ASD tendencies (Autism Quotient), on a large sample of healthy individuals (n = 925) using raw scores, prototypical questions and a factor analysis. The results showed consistently positive correlations between psychosis-proneness and ADHD-, as well as ASD-symptoms. While the effect was weak for ASD, it was moderate for ADHD. The findings support the idea that when investigating psychosis-proneness it is crucial to also take ADHD- and ASD-tendencies into account, in order to conclude that the reported results in a given study are specific to psychosis-proneness. The observed trait correlations also suggest a common pathway in the underlying information processing of these states.

越来越多的研究证据表明，精神分裂症等精神病性障碍与注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）或孤独症谱系障碍（ASD）之间存在显著的共病现象。近年来，针对健康人群的精神病态易感性（psychosis-proneness）研究，为深入解析精神病性障碍的潜在发病机制提供了极具前景的研究路径。由于ADHD与ASD的症状在普通人群中均呈正态分布，这类特质性共病可能会干扰针对精神病态易感性的研究结果。因此，明确健康人群中精神病态易感性与ADHD、ASD症状的关联程度，对于聚焦高危群体或精神病态易感性人群的研究而言至关重要。本文中，我们以925名健康个体组成的大样本为研究对象，通过原始得分、典型条目分析与因子分析三种方式，分析三项常用问卷的得分相关性，以此验证精神病态易感性与ADHD/ASD症状间重叠特征的稳健性：这三项问卷分别为用于评估妄想易感性（delusion-proneness）的彼得斯妄想量表（Peters’ Delusion Inventory）、用于评估成人ADHD倾向的成人ADHD自评量表（Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale），以及用于评估孤独症谱系倾向的孤独症谱系商数（Autism Quotient）。研究结果显示，精神病态易感性与ADHD症状、ASD症状之间始终存在正相关关系：其中与ASD症状的关联强度较弱，与ADHD症状的关联强度则为中等程度。本研究结果支持如下观点：在开展精神病态易感性相关研究时，必须同时考量ADHD与ASD的特质倾向，才能确保某项研究中报告的结果确实特异性地指向精神病态易感性。本次研究观察到的特质相关性，还提示这三类精神特质的潜在信息加工过程可能存在共同通路。