Correlation between clinical syndromes and neuropsychological tasks in unmedicated patients with recent onset schizophrenia

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2002-12, Vol.113 (1), p.83-92
• Main Authors: Daban, Claire, Amado, Isabelle, Baylé, Franck, Gut, Anne, Willard, Dominique, Bourdel, Marie-Chantal, Loo, Henri, Olié, Jean-Pierre, Millet, Bruno, Krebs, Marie-Odile, Poirier, Marie-France
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disorganization; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Memory Disorders - diagnosis; Memory Disorders - etiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Phasic alertness; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Reaction Time; Recent onset; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia, Disorganized - complications; Untreated and neuroleptic-naive patients; Working memory
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-1781(02)00228-7

The aim of this study is to circumscribe the cognitive deficits according to schizophrenic syndromes in a population of sub-acute untreated patients. We have studied the cross-sectional correlation between cognitive deficits and schizophrenic symptoms, in a group of 24 untreated patients (including 17 neuroleptic-naive patients) with recent onset of the disease. A task of alertness, a working memory (WM) test (including two levels of difficulty) and an abbreviated version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were selected. WM deficits and poor performance on the WCST were highly correlated with disorganized symptoms, modestly with the positive syndrome and not with the negative syndrome. Thus, disorganized symptoms, more than any other, appear to be related to the impairment of executive function and WM in recent onset unmedicated patients with schizophrenia.