title: Prefrontal neuropsychological impairment and illness duration in schizophrenia: a study of 204 patients in Hong Kong.
abstract: Previous studies investigating the progression of neuropsychological impairment in schizophrenia have yielded conflicting results. We compared prefrontal neuropsychological function and other cognitive performance in a larger sample of schizophrenic patients with different duration of illness. The inclusion of a normal control group also allowed the effect of age to be taken into account. Performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and semantic fluency were both impaired at an early stage in the illness and did not significantly deteriorate as the illness duration increased. Against this background there was preliminary evidence for deterioration in verbal memory function. The data support a lack of progression in prefrontal dysfunction and in most other cognitive domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012564:Schizophrenic Language; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology