title: Duration of untreated psychosis and neuropsychological function in first episode psychosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) prior to first presentation was associated with cognitive function in first episode psychosis (FEP) subjects. We predicted that longer DUP would be associated with greater neurocognitive impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  180 subjects with schizophrenia (and 93 subjects with Other Psychoses) performed a neurocognitive battery assessing IQ, verbal learning, working memory, visual learning and speed of processing. DUP was defined as the number of days between first onset of psychotic symptoms and first contact with psychiatric services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Longer DUP was associated with impaired performance in verbal IQ (p=0.04), verbal learning (p=0.02), and verbal working memory (p=0.04) in FEP subjects with schizophrenia. These associations remained significant for verbal IQ when scores were corrected for age, gender, educational level and ethnicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Longer DUP is associated with poorer neurocognitive ability in schizophrenia subjects at time of first presentation. Since this was a cross-sectional study we can not tell whether longer DUP was a cause or a consequence of the poorer performance.
authors.affiliation: Kings College Hospital Institute of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, PO63, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK. j.lappin@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lappin
authors.forename: Kevin D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dazzan
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reichenberg
authors.forename: Jolanta W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zanelli
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fearon
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Tuhina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tarrant
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farrant
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leff
authors.forename: Robin M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology