Gender difference in association between clinical symptoms and alexithymia in chronic schizophrenia: A large sample study based on Chinese Han population

Alexithymia, a prevalent social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, remains insufficiently studied. Though some studies propose a link between alexithymia and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, this connection lacks consistent confirmation. Additionally, there is limited research on gender difference in alexithymia among schizophrenia patients. To fill this gap, our study aimed to conduct a large-sample survey of Chinese Han patients with chronic schizophrenia to explore whether there are gender differences between clinical symptoms and alexithymia. We obtained sociodemographic characteristics of 987 schizophrenia patients, measured their clinical symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and assessed their self-reported alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). In patients with chronic schizophrenia, the prevalence of alexithymia did not differ between genders (male: 35.51 % vs. female: 26.91 %, P = 0.018). Correlation and linear regression analyses revealed that PANSS scores and TAS-20 scores were widely correlated in both male and female patients. In particular, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the TAS total score was positively correlated with negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms in male patients, while it was positively correlated with negative symptoms and depressive symptoms in female patients. Our study suggests that the prevalence of alexithymia in patients with chronic schizophrenia does not differ between genders. Negative symptoms are related to the TAS-20 total score in both male and female patients, while cognitive symptoms are only related to the TAS-20 total score in male patients, and depressive symptoms are only related to the TAS-20 total score in female patients.