Key clinical point: Elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity may be associated with comorbid depressive symptoms in never-treated first-episode (NTFE) patients with schizophrenia.

Major finding: NTFE patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher plasma total SOD and manganese SOD (MnSOD) vs. healthy controls (P less than .01). A positive correlation was seen between both MnSOD (r = 0.30; P less than .001) and total SOD activity (r = 0.19; P = .02) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) depressive factor, as well as between MnSOD activity and the PANSS general psychopathology subscale score (r = 0.20; P = .013).

Study details: The data come from a study of 166 NTFE patients with schizophrenia and 133 healthy controls.

Disclosures: This study was funded by the Key Research Project in Shanxi Province, Grant for Clinical Research by the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, National Key Research and Development Program of China, CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program, and the CAS Key Lab of Mental Health. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.