This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

Cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus 1 exposure associated with lower IQ in adolescents with early-onset psychosis

Cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus 1 exposures associated with lower iq in adolescents with early-onset psychosis

CMV and HSV-1 seropositivity are associated with substantially lower IQ in adolescents with early-onset psychosis, whereas no such association is observed in healthy controls.

The study aims to investigate whether exposure to cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is associated with intellectual functioning in adolescents with early-onset psychosis (EOP). A pilot study was first conducted with 17 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, followed by an investigation of 37 adolescents diagnosed with EOP and 72 healthy controls. CMV and HSV-1 IgG seropositivity were assessed using solid-phase immunoassays, and intellectual functioning was assessed using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; associations between viral serostatus and IQ were examined separately in patients and controls. In the pilot study, CMV seropositivity was associated with substantially lower full-scale IQ (by approximately 20 IQ points). This finding was replicated in the larger sample: CMV seropositivity was associated with an 11.5-point lower IQ (p = 0.011), while HSV-1 seropositivity was independently associated with a 15.4-point lower IQ (p = 0.001). No significant association was found in healthy controls. The authors state that these findings support the hypothesis that neuroimmune mechanisms may contribute to cognitive variability in psychotic disorders through environmental influences, and that immunological and neurodevelopmental perspectives should be considered together.

All WCP 2026 summaries