title: Investigation of clinical factors influencing cognitive function in Japanese schizophrenia.
abstract: Several investigators have reported cognitive dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia that was associated with insight and social skills. Such cognitive dysfunction seriously hinders an immediate return to normal life. Recently, Kaneda et al. reported that the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, Japanese-language version (BACS-J) was superior in the evaluation of the cognitive function. We investigated which clinical factors (age, sex, duration of illness, level of education, smoking status, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score and medication dosage) affected cognitive dysfunction in 115 Japanese schizophrenic patients, with the use of multiple regression analysis. We detected an association between composite score, verbal memory, working memory and executive function and PANSS total score. Moreover, most cognitive tasks were associated with a negative PANSS score but not a positive PANSS score or general score. We also showed an association between age and verbal fluency and attention in schizophrenia. In addition, anxiolytics/hypnotics (diazepam-equivalent) were associated with composite score, working memory and motor speed. In conclusion, cognitive function was associated with PANSS score, especially negative PANSS score. Because anxiolytics/hypnotics might have a detrimental influence on cognitive function, we strongly suggest that the use of anxiolytics/hypnotics be reduced in schizophrenics as much as possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan. tarok@fujita-hu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Masatsugu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moriwaki
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: Tomo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okochi
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukuo
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitajima
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Naitoh
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Nakao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iwata
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology