title: Comparison of Visuospatial and Verbal Abilities in First Psychotic Episode of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: Impact on Global Functioning and Quality of Life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Deficit in visuospatial functions can influence both simple and complex daily life activities. Despite the fact that visuospatial deficit was reported in schizophrenia, research on visuospatial functions as an independent entity is limited. Our study aims to elucidate the impact of visuospatial deficit in comparison with verbal deficit on global functioning and quality of life in the first psychotic episode of schizophrenia spectrum disorder (FES). The significance of clinical symptoms and antipsychotic medication was also studied.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six FES patients and a matched group of healthy controls (HC group) were assessed with a neuropsychological battery focused on visuospatial (VIS) and verbal (VERB) functions. Using multiple regression analysis, we evaluated the cumulative effect of VERB and VIS functions, psychiatric symptoms (PANSS) and antipsychotic medication on global functioning (GAF) and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) in the FES group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The FES group demonstrated significant impairment both in VIS and VERB cognitive abilities compared to the HC group. Antipsychotic medication did not significantly affect either VIS or VERB functioning. PANSS was not related to cognitive functioning, apart from the Trail Making Test B. In the FES group, the GAF score was significantly affected by the severity of positive symptoms and VERB functioning, explaining together 60% of GAF variability. The severity of negative and positive symptoms affected only the Physical health domain of WHOQOL-BREF. The degree of VERB deficit was associated with both Physical and Psychological health. Although we did not find any relation between VIS functioning, GAF, and WHOQOL-BREF, a paradoxical finding emerged in the Environment quality domain, where a worse quality of the environment was associated with better VIS functioning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the deficit in VIS functions is an integral part of cognitive deficit in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, rather than a side effect of symptomatology or antipsychotic medication. Moreover, VERB functioning was a better predictor of GAF and WHOQOL-BREF than VIS functioning. Given the findings of negative or missing effect of VIS deficit on WHOQOL-BREF and GAF, the accuracy of these measures in evaluating the impact of global cognitive deficit on everyday life in schizophrenia could be questioned.
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental Health Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Mabel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental HealthKlecany, Czech Republic; Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in PraguePrague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spaniel
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental Health Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Konradova
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental HealthKlecany, Czech Republic; Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in PraguePrague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sedlakova
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Karolina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dvorska
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental Health Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jitka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prajsova
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental Health Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kratochvilova
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology of Memory, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levcik
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental HealthKlecany, Czech Republic; Department of Neurophysiology of Memory, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of SciencesPrague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vlcek
authors.affiliation: National IT System of Mental Health and Brain Monitoring, National Institute of Mental HealthKlecany, Czech Republic; Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in PraguePrague, Czech Republic; Department of Neurophysiology of Memory, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of SciencesPrague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Iveta
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fajnerova
keywords: antipsychotic medication; cognitive deficit; first psychotic episode; global functioning; quality of life; schizophrenia spectrum disorder; verbal functions; visuospatial functions