title: Neuropsychological impairment in first-episode and chronic schizophrenic patients.
abstract: Patients with first-episode (FE) schizophrenia (n = 40), with chronic schizophrenia (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 40) matched for age, gender, education and parental socioeconomic status were administered a battery of standardized neuropsychological (NP) tests. Both patient groups showed generalized impairment relative to controls and the most pronounced deficits in visual-motor processing and attention (VSM). Compared with FE patients, chronic schizophrenics performed worse in VSM and abstraction/flexibility. Our findings suggest that NP deficits are fundamental manifestations of the illness, and that mainly frontally based dysfunctions are more prominent in chronic, kraepelinian patients.
authors.affiliation: State Mental Hospital Haar, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albus
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hubmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ehrenberg
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Forcht
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sobizack
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wahlheim
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hecht
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013028:Space Perception; D014888:Wechsler Scales