Cognitive functions in first-episode schizophrenia and unaffected first-degree relatives of different patients / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate cognitive functions in first-episode schizophrenia and unaffected first-degree relatives of different patients.Methods A total of 52 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (patient group),48 unaffected first-degree relatives of different patients (relatives group) and 50 healthy normal controls (control group) was recruited in the study.The attention,memory,and executive functions of all the subjects were assessed by a battery of neuropsychological tests,including cancellation test (CT),trail making test (TMT),digit span (DS),visual reproduction (VR),verbal fluency task (VFK),Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and HANOI tower.Results There were statistically significant difference among three groups in net scores of CT,TMTA,TMT-B,backward and total scores of DS,scores of VR,VFK,total errors and perseverate errors of WCST and all indicators of HANOI Tower (P ＜0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).Post Hoc multiple comparisons showed that,compared with the control group,the patient group had worse scores in all tests above except TMT-A in the relatives group (P ＜0.05 orP ＜0.01).However,compared with the patient group,the relatives group had better scores in net scores of CT,TMT-A,TMT-B,scores of VR,VFK,total errors and perseverate errors of WCST (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Patients with first-episode schizophrenia have global cognitive functions deficits.Unaffected first-degree relatives of different patients also have cognitive deficits to a certain extent.Our study indicates that cognitive functions deficits may be viewed as a biomarker for candidates reflecting genetic liability for schizophrenia.