ArticleCommunications medicine2025
Relationship between grammar and schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Communications medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reading between the lines: Combining pause dynamics and semantic coherence for automated assessment of thought disorder.Neuropsychologia · 2026Article
- Increasing participation of people with thought disorder in clinical research.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026Review
- Clinical psychopathology-based early relapse prediction model using speech and language in psychosis.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Review
- Exploring the interplay between language use and cognitive function in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Insights from patients, first degree relatives, and healthy controls.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Review
- Expressive pragmatic language in mood and psychotic disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Collecting language, speech acoustics, and facial expression to predict psychosis and other clinical outcomes: strategies from the AMP® SCZ initiative.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSchizophrenia significantly impairs everyday communication, affecting education and employment. Such communication difficulties may arise from deficits in syntax-understanding and generating grammatical structures. Research on syntactic impairments in schizophrenia is underpowered, with inconsistent findings, and it is unclear if deficits are specific to certain patient subgroups, regardless of symptom profiles, age, sex, or illness severity.
methodsA pre-registered (Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7FZUC ) search using PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases up to May 1, 2024, for all studies investigating syntax comprehension and production in schizophrenia vs. healthy controls. Excluding studies on those <18 years of age and qualitative research, we extracted Cohen's d and log coefficient of variation ratio and used Bayesian meta-analysis across 6 domains: 2 in comprehension and 4 in production in patient-control comparisons. Study quality was evaluated using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, with moderators (age, sex, study quality, language) tested via meta-regression.
resultsWe identify 86 relevant articles, of which 45 have sufficient data for meta-analysis (n = 2960 participants, 64.4% English, weighted mean age(sd) = 32.3(5.6)). Bayesian meta-analysis shows strong evidence of syntactic deficits in schizophrenia across all domains (d = 0.65-1.01, overall random-effects d = 0.86, 95% CrI [0.67-1.03]), with syntax comprehension being most affected, with weak publication bias. People with schizophrenia show increased variability in comprehension and production of long and complex utterances (lnCVR = 0.21, 95% CrI [0.07-0.36]), hinting at subgroups with differing performance.
conclusionsRobust impairments in grammatical comprehension and production in schizophrenia suggest opportunities for targeted interventions focusing on syntax, a rule-based feature amenable to cognitive, educational, and linguistic interventions.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.