P300 Aberration in First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Decreased P300 amplitude is one of the most consistent findings in patients with schizophrenia. However, whether prolonged P300 latency occurs in patients with schizophrenia, especially first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients, remains controversial.A meta-analyses of P300 aberration in FES patients and healthy control(HC) group was conducted. The meta-regression analysis was performed using a random effects model. The pooled standardized effect size (PSES) was calculated as the division of the difference between the means of the two groups by the common standard deviation.A total of 569 FES patients and 747 HCs were included in this meta- analysis. P300 amplitude was significantly reduced (PSES = −0.83, 95% CI: −1.02–0.65, P = 0.00001) and P300 latency was delayed significantly in FES patients (PSES = −0.48, 95% CI: 0.14–0.81, P = 0.005). The meta-regression analysis showed that task difficulty was a source of heterogeneity.The meta-analysis confirms that disrupted information processing is found in FES patients, which is manifested by smaller P300 amplitude and delayed P300 latency