Neurocognitive Functioning and Quality of Life in Patients with and without Deficit Syndrome of Schizophrenia
Poster A7,
Kang Sim1, KH Tay1, MY Sum1, S Sengupta1; 1Institute of Mental Health Singapore
Deficit syndrome of schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms. Due to the paucity of studies examining QOL together with neurocognitive functioning in DSZ, we aimed to examine subjective QOL and neurocognitive impairments within schizophrenia patients with (DSZ) and without deficit syndrome (NDSZ). Based on existing evidence and clinical impressions, we hypothesized that DSZ would have poorer self-rated QOL and more impaired neurocognitive functioning and predict both outcomes. Overall, 344 subjects (175 patients with NDSZ, 58 patients with DSZ and 111 healthy controls) were evaluated on severity of psychopathology, QOL and a smaller subset of 199 subjects (104 NDSZ, 27 DSZ, 68 healthy controls) underwent neurocognitive assessments. Multivariate analyses were used to determine differences in outcomes between subject groups and predictors of clinical measures. Both DSZ and NDSZ had significantly worse QOL compared with healthy controls. DSZ had more extensive cognitive deficits compared with healthy controls and performed worse on semantic fluency task compared to NDSZ. Multiple linear regression analysis found that DSZ, shorter duration of illness were associated with poorer QOL whereas fewer years of education, lower premorbid intelligence were associated with poorer overall neurocognitive functioning. The poorer QOL, greater extent of neurocognitive deficits especially semantic fluency associated with DSZ behoves the need for greater attention during clinical evaluation and treatment planning of this subgroup of individuals with schizophrenia.
Topic Area: Diagnosis and Phenomenology