title: Differential cognitive performances between schizophrenic responders and non-responders to antipsychotics: correlation with course of the illness, psychopathology, attitude to the treatment and antipsychotics doses.
abstract: Multiple lines of evidence demonstrate that schizophrenia patients may perform worse than normal controls in several cognitive tasks. However, little is known on putative differences in cognitive functioning between schizophrenia patients responding to antipsychotics and those resistant to the treatment. In this cross-sectional study, 63 subjects (41 schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients and 22 age and sex-matched controls) were enrolled. Patients were divided in resistant (TRS, n=19) and non-resistant to pharmacological treatment (non-TRS, n=22) according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) criteria for treatment resistance. The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) was administered to patients and controls. The following rating scales were administered to schizophrenia patients: the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI) and the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptics (SWN). Statistically significant differences among non-TRS patients, TRS ones, and controls were detected at the BACS. TRS patients performed significantly worse than non-TRS ones on Verbal Memory task, exhibited higher PANSS total and subscales scores and were prescribed higher antipsychotic doses. Poorer performances at the BACS significantly correlated with more severe negative symptoms in TRS but not in non-TRS patients. These results may suggest that TRS patients suffer from a form of the disease with prominent cognitive impairment possibly related to negative symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Unit on Treatment Resistant Psychosis, Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, University School of Medicine "Federico II", Naples, Italy. Electronic address: adebarto@unina.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Bartolomeis
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Balletta
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Elisabetta Filomena
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Buonaguro
authors.forename: Gianmarco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Latte
authors.forename: Felice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Iasevoli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011599:Psychopathology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Antipsychotics; Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS); Clozapine; Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI); Psychosis; Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptics (SWN); Verbal memory