A 10-minute measure of global cognition: Validation of the Brief Cognitive Assessment Tool for Schizophrenia (B-CATS).

Introduction: Schizophrenia is marked by a global cognitive impairment that contributes significantly to chronic disability and unemployment. As new treatments are developed for cognition in schizophrenia, clinicians require easily administered instruments to assess cognition. We previously developed a very brief cognitive battery (Bell et al.

The Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI): reliability and validity of a brief interview-based measure of cognition.

Objective: To obtain Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia, a drug will need to demonstrate benefits beyond those that may be documented on objective cognitive tests. Interview-based measures of cognition such as the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI) are candidate coprimary outcome measures.

Methods: Psychiatrically stable schizophrenia outpatients (n=150) were studied using the CAI to obtain information about cognitive functioning from both the patient and an informant.

A brief cognitive assessment tool for schizophrenia: construction of a tool for clinicians.

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia is often severe, enduring, and contributes significantly to chronic disability. But clinicians have difficulty in assessing cognition due to a lack of brief instruments. We evaluated whether a brief battery of cognitive tests derived from larger batteries could generate a summary score representing global cognitive function.