Mª jesús Gurpegui - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Mª jesús Gurpegui
Actas espanolas de psiquiatria
The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including assoc... more The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including associated psychiatric morbidity, of the children seeking help for enuresis in a public child and adolescent mental health unit. Within an exploratory, retrospective, and observational study, we reviewed the clinical charts of all the children (N= 2,315) attending the unit during a five-year period (January 1992-December 1997), collecting information on gender, age, type of enuresis, associated psychiatric morbidity, and social and family characteristics. Both the enuresis and the associated psychiatric disorders were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Enuresis was the reason for admission in 230 children (9.9%), whose mean (+/- SD) age was 9.0 (+/- 2.9) years (range: 5-18). The condition of single-parent family, the perception of economic difficulties, and a poor academic achievement were not associated to any type of enuresis. A 19.5 per cent of the patients with enuresis presented...
Neurologia (Barcelona, Spain)
Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diag... more Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diagnostic accuracy (DA). However, they have the disadvantage of being greatly influenced by socioeducational variables. Our objective is to assess the possible influence of these variables on the fluency test "names of persons" (SVF-np). Cross-sectional study in 226 neurology patients classified in dementia (DSM-IV criteria), cognitive impairment without dementia (GENCyD-SEN criteria) and non-cognitive impairment who responded to a SVF-np test and to the classical test of verbal fluency "names of animals" (SVF-an), evaluating the DA of their results for both dementia and cognitive impairment by calculating and comparing the area under the ROC curve (aROC). In addition, the influence of the socioeducational variables and cognitive state on the results was assessed through multiple linear regression analysis. There were no significant differences between the DA of the SVF-...
Neurología (Barcelona, Spain), 2007
The EUROTEST is a valid and useful instrument for detecting cognitive impairment and dementia. Ou... more The EUROTEST is a valid and useful instrument for detecting cognitive impairment and dementia. Our aim was to assess the test-retest reliability (TRTR) and the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of this instrument. We assessed the TRTR by means of a cross-sectional repeated measures design in 30 subjects with no cognitive impairment. The IRR was determined through the blind assessment of 10 test administrations by 20 independent observers. In both instances we calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient and we compared those coefficients with the ones of the semantic Verbal Fluency Test (sVFT) obtained with the same samples and procedures. There were not significant differences concerning the characteristics of the subjects included in this study and those of previous studies on the EUROTEST. The EUROTEST showed a significantly higher TRTR (0.94 [95% CI: 0.87-0.97]) than the sVFT (0.51 [95% CI: 0.17- 0.74]), but there was not significant difference in IRR between the EUROTEST (0.9...
Neurología (Barcelona, Spain)
Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diag... more Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diagnostic accuracy (DA). However, they have the disadvantage of being greatly influenced by socioeducational variables. Our objective is to assess the possible influence of these variables on the fluency test "names of persons" (SVF-np). Cross-sectional study in 226 neurology patients classified in dementia (DSM-IV criteria), cognitive impairment without dementia (GENCyD-SEN criteria) and non-cognitive impairment who responded to a SVF-np test and to the classical test of verbal fluency "names of animals" (SVF-an), evaluating the DA of their results for both dementia and cognitive impairment by calculating and comparing the area under the ROC curve (aROC). In addition, the influence of the socioeducational variables and cognitive state on the results was assessed through multiple linear regression analysis. There were no significant differences between the DA of the SVF-...
Actas españolas de psiquiatría
The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including assoc... more The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including associated psychiatric morbidity, of the children seeking help for enuresis in a public child and adolescent mental health unit. Within an exploratory, retrospective, and observational study, we reviewed the clinical charts of all the children (N= 2,315) attending the unit during a five-year period (January 1992-December 1997), collecting information on gender, age, type of enuresis, associated psychiatric morbidity, and social and family characteristics. Both the enuresis and the associated psychiatric disorders were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Enuresis was the reason for admission in 230 children (9.9%), whose mean (+/- SD) age was 9.0 (+/- 2.9) years (range: 5-18). The condition of single-parent family, the perception of economic difficulties, and a poor academic achievement were not associated to any type of enuresis. A 19.5 per cent of the patients with enuresis presented...
Revista de medicina de la Universidad de Navarra, 1982
Revista de medicina de la Universidad de Navarra, 1982
Personality influences the practice of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this observational ... more Personality influences the practice of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this observational descriptive study was to analyze the association of personality traits with adherence to PA among 208 patients attending a primary health care centre (Granada, Spain). The patients answered a questionnaire inquiring socio-demographic characteristics, personality traits and PA. Personality was measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-125); and PA by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Multiple linear regression analysis showed (in both men and women) that the higher the score on the Temperament dimension of harm avoidance the lower the adherence to PA (partial r = -.19). Similarly, age (partial r = -.30) and educational level (partial r = -.22) were inversely associated with adherence to PA. The present results can help to predict poor adherence to lifestyle PA. Interventions on high harm avoidance individuals through anxiety reduction might help them in becoming more physically active.
Neurología (English Edition), 2011
Introduction: The Fototest is a brief cognitive test suitable for illiterate persons, and valid a... more Introduction: The Fototest is a brief cognitive test suitable for illiterate persons, and valid and accurate for detecting cognitive impairment or dementia. Our aim was to conclude the development of this instrument carrying out a normative and reliability study. Method: The normative study was performed on a convenience sample of 223 healthy volunteers aged between 20 and 85 years. The test-retest reliability was assessed through a repeated-measures cross-sectional design on a sample of 50 subjects with no cognitive impairment; the inter-rater reliability was determined by the blind assessment of 10 test applications performed by 30 independent observers; in both instances, reliability was expressed as intra-class correlation coeffi cient. Internal consistency was analysed by Cronbach's alpha coeffi cient. Results: The results on the Fototest are normally distributed and are not infl uenced by gender or educational level but they do vary with age. The test-retest reliability of the Fototest was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.81-0.93); the inter-rater reliability, 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96-0.99); and the internal consistency, 0.94. Conclusions: The Fototest is free from educational infl uence and shows appropriate testretest and inter-rater reliabilities, as well as a high internal consistency. Therefore, it is a suitable psychometric instrument to be used in the follow-up of patients with cognitive impairment or dementia, especially in contexts where evaluators are not the same on different occasions, or with patients of low educational level.
Neurología (English Edition), 2012
Fototest is a short simple test, applicable to illiterate subjects and not influenced by educatio... more Fototest is a short simple test, applicable to illiterate subjects and not influenced by educational level. The purpose of this study is to assess its validity for cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia (DEM) under routine clinical practice conditions. A cross-sectional, multicentre and naturalistic study conducted in General Neurology clinics. The subjects were, over 60 years old, with a previously established diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NoCI), cognitive impairment without dementia (CInoDEM), or dementia (DEM). The discriminant validity was assessed using the area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity (Sn), specificity (Sp), and probability coefficients. Partial correlations were calculated, adjusted for age, sex and education level with Eurotest, verbal fluency test (VFT) and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) score to evaluate the concurrent and construct validity. Nineteen neurologists included a total of 589 subjects: 361 NoCI, 106 CINoDEM and 122 DEM. The discriminant value was better for DEM (AUC 0.94 ± 0.02) than for CI (0.86 ± 0.02). For DEM the best cut-off point was 26/27 (Sn=0.88 [95% CI, 0.93-0.97], Sp=0.87 [95% CI, 0.84-0.90]); and for CI, 28/29 (Sn=0.71 [95% CI, 0.65-0.77], Sp=0.84 [95% CI, 0.80-0.88]). Fototest showed a high and significant correlation with Eurotest (r=0.70 ± 0.02), VFT (r=0.68 ± 0.02) and the GDS score (r=-0.77 ± 0.02). The Fototest showed adequate validity for CI and DEM in general Neurology clinics in an extensive and wide geographical area.
Occupational Medicine, 2007
Conclusions When personality characteristics are taken into account, the effect of workplace and ... more Conclusions When personality characteristics are taken into account, the effect of workplace and sociodemographic variables was limited, although workload, poor job satisfaction and female sex remained associated with psychiatric morbidity.
Schizophrenia Research, 2006
According to the literature, there is an association between schizophrenia and caffeine consumpti... more According to the literature, there is an association between schizophrenia and caffeine consumption, but it is not clear whether schizophrenia is associated with either higher prevalence of daily caffeine intake or the amount consumed. In this study we compared our previously published schizophrenia patients (n = 250) with a control sample (n = 290) after controlling for demographic variables and tobacco and alcohol consumption. Current caffeine intake was less frequent in schizophrenia patients (59%, 147/250) than in controls (70%, 204/290). In the multivariate analyses, caffeine intake was less frequent at an older age and in schizophrenia patients, and more frequent in smokers and alcohol users. Among caffeine consumers, heavy caffeine intake (≥ 200 mg/day) was significantly associated with schizophrenia (64%, 94/147 in schizophrenia versus 36%, 73/204 in controls), as well as older age and smoking. Daily amount of caffeine intake and smoked cigarettes correlated significantly in the schizophrenia group but not in the control group; the correlation of caffeine intake with nicotine dependence was low and non-significant in both groups. The association between current smoking and heavy caffeine intake may be partly explained by a pharmacokinetic effect: tobacco smoke compounds induce caffeine metabolism by the cytochrome P450 1A2. Although schizophrenia by itself may be associated with heavy caffeine intake in caffeine users, part of this association was explained by the association between schizophrenia and smoking. The relationship between caffeine and alcohol intake appeared to be more complex; alcohol and caffeine use were significantly associated, but within caffeine users alcohol was associated with less frequent heavy caffeine consumption among smokers. In future studies, the measurement of plasma caffeine levels will help both to better define heavy caffeine intake and to control for smoking pharmacokinetic effects.
Schizophrenia Research, 2005
In a prior US study, schizophrenia vulnerability was associated with higher risk of initiating da... more In a prior US study, schizophrenia vulnerability was associated with higher risk of initiating daily smoking after 20 years of age. A survival analysis of onset age of daily smoking compared 290 controls with 250 consecutive DSM-IV schizophrenia patients from outpatient facilities at an urban catchment area in Spain. After controlling for gender and education, the cumulative hazard curves for smoking initiation age of controls and schizophrenia patients were significantly different. After age 20, smoking initiation rates were higher in all schizophrenia patients (and in 107 schizophrenia patients who started daily smoking at least 5 years before illness onset).
Schizophrenia Research, 2008
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that ESM is a useful methodology to capture 'on-line' variab... more Conclusions: This study demonstrates that ESM is a useful methodology to capture 'on-line' variability in psychotic phenomenology and in determining complex relationships between appraisals, symptoms and affect. Results showed that despite psychotic symptoms being present a majority of the time, people are not engulfed by them. However intensity and presence of psychosis-related thoughts lead to more distress and interference with functioning. Delusional convictions are not stable, nor are appraisals about symptoms. Power appraisals are central to predicting distress about voices, while 'decentring' from your delusions predicts less distress. In contrast, having traditional 'insight' into symptoms does not influence distress.
Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2004
Several studies suggest that caffeine intake is high in patients with schizophrenia and a few of ... more Several studies suggest that caffeine intake is high in patients with schizophrenia and a few of them suggest that caffeine may contribute to schizophrenia symptomatology. None of these studies control for the effect of tobacco smoking, which is associated with induction of caffeine metabolism. Therefore, the high amount of caffeine intake among patients with schizophrenia may be due to their high prevalence of smoking. This is the first large study to explore whether caffeine intake in patients with schizophrenia is related to tobacco (or alcohol) use or to the severity of schizophrenia symptomatology. The sample included 250 consecutive consenting outpatients with a diagnosis of DSM-IV schizophrenia from Granada, Spain. Fiftynine percent (147/250) of patients consumed caffeine. Current caffeine intake was associated with current smoking and alcohol use. As none of the females used alcohol, the association with alcohol was only present in males with schizophrenia. Among caffeine consumers, smoking was associated with the amount of caffeine intake. Cross-sectional schizophrenia symptomatology was not associated with caffeine intake.
Actas espanolas de psiquiatria
The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including assoc... more The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including associated psychiatric morbidity, of the children seeking help for enuresis in a public child and adolescent mental health unit. Within an exploratory, retrospective, and observational study, we reviewed the clinical charts of all the children (N= 2,315) attending the unit during a five-year period (January 1992-December 1997), collecting information on gender, age, type of enuresis, associated psychiatric morbidity, and social and family characteristics. Both the enuresis and the associated psychiatric disorders were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Enuresis was the reason for admission in 230 children (9.9%), whose mean (+/- SD) age was 9.0 (+/- 2.9) years (range: 5-18). The condition of single-parent family, the perception of economic difficulties, and a poor academic achievement were not associated to any type of enuresis. A 19.5 per cent of the patients with enuresis presented...
Neurologia (Barcelona, Spain)
Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diag... more Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diagnostic accuracy (DA). However, they have the disadvantage of being greatly influenced by socioeducational variables. Our objective is to assess the possible influence of these variables on the fluency test "names of persons" (SVF-np). Cross-sectional study in 226 neurology patients classified in dementia (DSM-IV criteria), cognitive impairment without dementia (GENCyD-SEN criteria) and non-cognitive impairment who responded to a SVF-np test and to the classical test of verbal fluency "names of animals" (SVF-an), evaluating the DA of their results for both dementia and cognitive impairment by calculating and comparing the area under the ROC curve (aROC). In addition, the influence of the socioeducational variables and cognitive state on the results was assessed through multiple linear regression analysis. There were no significant differences between the DA of the SVF-...
Neurología (Barcelona, Spain), 2007
The EUROTEST is a valid and useful instrument for detecting cognitive impairment and dementia. Ou... more The EUROTEST is a valid and useful instrument for detecting cognitive impairment and dementia. Our aim was to assess the test-retest reliability (TRTR) and the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of this instrument. We assessed the TRTR by means of a cross-sectional repeated measures design in 30 subjects with no cognitive impairment. The IRR was determined through the blind assessment of 10 test administrations by 20 independent observers. In both instances we calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient and we compared those coefficients with the ones of the semantic Verbal Fluency Test (sVFT) obtained with the same samples and procedures. There were not significant differences concerning the characteristics of the subjects included in this study and those of previous studies on the EUROTEST. The EUROTEST showed a significantly higher TRTR (0.94 [95% CI: 0.87-0.97]) than the sVFT (0.51 [95% CI: 0.17- 0.74]), but there was not significant difference in IRR between the EUROTEST (0.9...
Neurología (Barcelona, Spain)
Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diag... more Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks are widely used because of their simplicity, brevity and diagnostic accuracy (DA). However, they have the disadvantage of being greatly influenced by socioeducational variables. Our objective is to assess the possible influence of these variables on the fluency test "names of persons" (SVF-np). Cross-sectional study in 226 neurology patients classified in dementia (DSM-IV criteria), cognitive impairment without dementia (GENCyD-SEN criteria) and non-cognitive impairment who responded to a SVF-np test and to the classical test of verbal fluency "names of animals" (SVF-an), evaluating the DA of their results for both dementia and cognitive impairment by calculating and comparing the area under the ROC curve (aROC). In addition, the influence of the socioeducational variables and cognitive state on the results was assessed through multiple linear regression analysis. There were no significant differences between the DA of the SVF-...
Actas españolas de psiquiatría
The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including assoc... more The objective of the study was to know the clinical and epidemiological features, including associated psychiatric morbidity, of the children seeking help for enuresis in a public child and adolescent mental health unit. Within an exploratory, retrospective, and observational study, we reviewed the clinical charts of all the children (N= 2,315) attending the unit during a five-year period (January 1992-December 1997), collecting information on gender, age, type of enuresis, associated psychiatric morbidity, and social and family characteristics. Both the enuresis and the associated psychiatric disorders were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Enuresis was the reason for admission in 230 children (9.9%), whose mean (+/- SD) age was 9.0 (+/- 2.9) years (range: 5-18). The condition of single-parent family, the perception of economic difficulties, and a poor academic achievement were not associated to any type of enuresis. A 19.5 per cent of the patients with enuresis presented...
Revista de medicina de la Universidad de Navarra, 1982
Revista de medicina de la Universidad de Navarra, 1982
Personality influences the practice of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this observational ... more Personality influences the practice of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this observational descriptive study was to analyze the association of personality traits with adherence to PA among 208 patients attending a primary health care centre (Granada, Spain). The patients answered a questionnaire inquiring socio-demographic characteristics, personality traits and PA. Personality was measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-125); and PA by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Multiple linear regression analysis showed (in both men and women) that the higher the score on the Temperament dimension of harm avoidance the lower the adherence to PA (partial r = -.19). Similarly, age (partial r = -.30) and educational level (partial r = -.22) were inversely associated with adherence to PA. The present results can help to predict poor adherence to lifestyle PA. Interventions on high harm avoidance individuals through anxiety reduction might help them in becoming more physically active.
Neurología (English Edition), 2011
Introduction: The Fototest is a brief cognitive test suitable for illiterate persons, and valid a... more Introduction: The Fototest is a brief cognitive test suitable for illiterate persons, and valid and accurate for detecting cognitive impairment or dementia. Our aim was to conclude the development of this instrument carrying out a normative and reliability study. Method: The normative study was performed on a convenience sample of 223 healthy volunteers aged between 20 and 85 years. The test-retest reliability was assessed through a repeated-measures cross-sectional design on a sample of 50 subjects with no cognitive impairment; the inter-rater reliability was determined by the blind assessment of 10 test applications performed by 30 independent observers; in both instances, reliability was expressed as intra-class correlation coeffi cient. Internal consistency was analysed by Cronbach's alpha coeffi cient. Results: The results on the Fototest are normally distributed and are not infl uenced by gender or educational level but they do vary with age. The test-retest reliability of the Fototest was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.81-0.93); the inter-rater reliability, 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96-0.99); and the internal consistency, 0.94. Conclusions: The Fototest is free from educational infl uence and shows appropriate testretest and inter-rater reliabilities, as well as a high internal consistency. Therefore, it is a suitable psychometric instrument to be used in the follow-up of patients with cognitive impairment or dementia, especially in contexts where evaluators are not the same on different occasions, or with patients of low educational level.
Neurología (English Edition), 2012
Fototest is a short simple test, applicable to illiterate subjects and not influenced by educatio... more Fototest is a short simple test, applicable to illiterate subjects and not influenced by educational level. The purpose of this study is to assess its validity for cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia (DEM) under routine clinical practice conditions. A cross-sectional, multicentre and naturalistic study conducted in General Neurology clinics. The subjects were, over 60 years old, with a previously established diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NoCI), cognitive impairment without dementia (CInoDEM), or dementia (DEM). The discriminant validity was assessed using the area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity (Sn), specificity (Sp), and probability coefficients. Partial correlations were calculated, adjusted for age, sex and education level with Eurotest, verbal fluency test (VFT) and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) score to evaluate the concurrent and construct validity. Nineteen neurologists included a total of 589 subjects: 361 NoCI, 106 CINoDEM and 122 DEM. The discriminant value was better for DEM (AUC 0.94 ± 0.02) than for CI (0.86 ± 0.02). For DEM the best cut-off point was 26/27 (Sn=0.88 [95% CI, 0.93-0.97], Sp=0.87 [95% CI, 0.84-0.90]); and for CI, 28/29 (Sn=0.71 [95% CI, 0.65-0.77], Sp=0.84 [95% CI, 0.80-0.88]). Fototest showed a high and significant correlation with Eurotest (r=0.70 ± 0.02), VFT (r=0.68 ± 0.02) and the GDS score (r=-0.77 ± 0.02). The Fototest showed adequate validity for CI and DEM in general Neurology clinics in an extensive and wide geographical area.
Occupational Medicine, 2007
Conclusions When personality characteristics are taken into account, the effect of workplace and ... more Conclusions When personality characteristics are taken into account, the effect of workplace and sociodemographic variables was limited, although workload, poor job satisfaction and female sex remained associated with psychiatric morbidity.
Schizophrenia Research, 2006
According to the literature, there is an association between schizophrenia and caffeine consumpti... more According to the literature, there is an association between schizophrenia and caffeine consumption, but it is not clear whether schizophrenia is associated with either higher prevalence of daily caffeine intake or the amount consumed. In this study we compared our previously published schizophrenia patients (n = 250) with a control sample (n = 290) after controlling for demographic variables and tobacco and alcohol consumption. Current caffeine intake was less frequent in schizophrenia patients (59%, 147/250) than in controls (70%, 204/290). In the multivariate analyses, caffeine intake was less frequent at an older age and in schizophrenia patients, and more frequent in smokers and alcohol users. Among caffeine consumers, heavy caffeine intake (≥ 200 mg/day) was significantly associated with schizophrenia (64%, 94/147 in schizophrenia versus 36%, 73/204 in controls), as well as older age and smoking. Daily amount of caffeine intake and smoked cigarettes correlated significantly in the schizophrenia group but not in the control group; the correlation of caffeine intake with nicotine dependence was low and non-significant in both groups. The association between current smoking and heavy caffeine intake may be partly explained by a pharmacokinetic effect: tobacco smoke compounds induce caffeine metabolism by the cytochrome P450 1A2. Although schizophrenia by itself may be associated with heavy caffeine intake in caffeine users, part of this association was explained by the association between schizophrenia and smoking. The relationship between caffeine and alcohol intake appeared to be more complex; alcohol and caffeine use were significantly associated, but within caffeine users alcohol was associated with less frequent heavy caffeine consumption among smokers. In future studies, the measurement of plasma caffeine levels will help both to better define heavy caffeine intake and to control for smoking pharmacokinetic effects.
Schizophrenia Research, 2005
In a prior US study, schizophrenia vulnerability was associated with higher risk of initiating da... more In a prior US study, schizophrenia vulnerability was associated with higher risk of initiating daily smoking after 20 years of age. A survival analysis of onset age of daily smoking compared 290 controls with 250 consecutive DSM-IV schizophrenia patients from outpatient facilities at an urban catchment area in Spain. After controlling for gender and education, the cumulative hazard curves for smoking initiation age of controls and schizophrenia patients were significantly different. After age 20, smoking initiation rates were higher in all schizophrenia patients (and in 107 schizophrenia patients who started daily smoking at least 5 years before illness onset).
Schizophrenia Research, 2008
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that ESM is a useful methodology to capture 'on-line' variab... more Conclusions: This study demonstrates that ESM is a useful methodology to capture 'on-line' variability in psychotic phenomenology and in determining complex relationships between appraisals, symptoms and affect. Results showed that despite psychotic symptoms being present a majority of the time, people are not engulfed by them. However intensity and presence of psychosis-related thoughts lead to more distress and interference with functioning. Delusional convictions are not stable, nor are appraisals about symptoms. Power appraisals are central to predicting distress about voices, while 'decentring' from your delusions predicts less distress. In contrast, having traditional 'insight' into symptoms does not influence distress.
Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2004
Several studies suggest that caffeine intake is high in patients with schizophrenia and a few of ... more Several studies suggest that caffeine intake is high in patients with schizophrenia and a few of them suggest that caffeine may contribute to schizophrenia symptomatology. None of these studies control for the effect of tobacco smoking, which is associated with induction of caffeine metabolism. Therefore, the high amount of caffeine intake among patients with schizophrenia may be due to their high prevalence of smoking. This is the first large study to explore whether caffeine intake in patients with schizophrenia is related to tobacco (or alcohol) use or to the severity of schizophrenia symptomatology. The sample included 250 consecutive consenting outpatients with a diagnosis of DSM-IV schizophrenia from Granada, Spain. Fiftynine percent (147/250) of patients consumed caffeine. Current caffeine intake was associated with current smoking and alcohol use. As none of the females used alcohol, the association with alcohol was only present in males with schizophrenia. Among caffeine consumers, smoking was associated with the amount of caffeine intake. Cross-sectional schizophrenia symptomatology was not associated with caffeine intake.