An outcome prediction model for schizophrenia: A structural equation modelling approach.

Introduction: Although it is well-known that several factors such as symptoms and cognition are related with functional outcome in schizophrenia, the complex nature of the disorder makes necessary to study their interaction by means of a more analytic method than simple linkages approaches.

Material And Methods: One hundred and sixty-five patients with schizophrenia underwent a clinical evaluation (including clinical symptoms, insight, affective symptoms and premorbid adjustment). Neurocognition was represented by a 5-factor structure obtained by confirmatory factor analysis from a neurocognitive battery.

Improvements in negative symptoms and functional outcome after a new generation cognitive remediation program: a randomized controlled trial.

Cognitive remediation improves cognition in patients with schizophrenia, but its effect on other relevant factors such as negative symptoms and functional outcome has not been extensively studied. In this hospital-based study, 84 inpatients with chronic schizophrenia were recruited from Alava Hospital (Spain). All of the subjects underwent a baseline and a 3-month assessment that examined neurocognition, clinical symptoms, insight, and functional outcome according to the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale and Disability Assessment Schedule from World Health Organization (DAS-WHO).

The course of the schizophrenia and its impact on cognition: a review of literature.

There has been increasing interest about cognition in schizophrenia during recent years. The greater focus of the investigators has been focused greater interest on the relation of cognitive deterioration with positive and negative symptoms, and functionality. However very few studies, if any, have specifically focused on the course of cognition in schizophrenic patients throughout the years.

[Evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation in psychosis and schizophrenia with the REHACOP programme].

Introduction: Neuropsychological rehabilitation in schizophrenia is a recent development and few studies have been conducted to determine its effectiveness in samples of a Spanish population. Specific therapeutic programmes have recently been designed, like REHACOP, which is a programme of cognitive rehabilitation in psychosis. This study aims to test the effectiveness of REHACOP in samples of patients with schizophrenia in a Spanish population in different phases of the disease.

[REHACOP: a cognitive rehabilitation programme in psychosis].

Introduction: In this work we present REHACOP, a programme of cognitive rehabilitation in psychosis.

Materials And Methods: The foundation of the REHACOP programme (its structure, materials, aims, work methodology and means of implementation) are described in detail.

Results And Conclusions: This new therapeutic tool is presented with the aim of being of use to guide professionals who seek to design an intervention of this kind in samples of patients with schizophrenia or other pathologies.

An explanatory model of quality of life in schizophrenia: the role of processing speed and negative symptoms.

Introduction: Improving the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia is a major goal in managing this devastating disorder, but agreement is lacking about the factors that predict quality of life (QoL) over the course of the disorder.

Methods: We examined 165 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia in this study. We included measures for psychiatric (PANSS, insight and affective symptoms) and cognitive symptoms.

Verbal fluency in schizophrenia: does cognitive performance reflect the same underlying mechanisms in patients and healthy controls?

Verbal fluency is impaired in patients with schizophrenia, but the association with other cognitive domains remains unclear. Forty-seven patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) and 47 controls matched by age, gender, years of education, and vocabulary (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III) were assessed in terms of sociodemographic, clinical, and cognitive variables. Healthy controls performed significantly better than patients with schizophrenia in all cognitive measures.

[Attention deficits and response to drug therapy in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia: results through confirmatory factor analysis].

Introduction: There are no experimental data that demonstrate whether patients with neuroleptic-resistant schizophrenia differ or not in their pattern of neuropsychological functioning from patients with adequate drug response.

Method: Fifty-two patients with drug-resistant psychosis (DRP) and 42 patients with schizophrenia not resistant to treatment (NDRP) were recruited following the criteria of Kane et al (1988). A sample of 45 healthy controls matched by age, sex and educational level was also recruited.

Predictors of longitudinal changes in schizophrenia: the role of processing speed.

Background: The main objective was to identify variables that predict functional disability in chronic schizophrenia over time.

Method: We examined 95 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) in a long-stage unit and 53 healthy controls (matched for age, gender, and years of education). Neuropsychological battery included tests for verbal memory, working memory, executive functioning, and processing speed.

Course of cognitive functioning in first-episode psychosis: a comparison between schizophrenia and non schizophrenia psychosis.

Aims: To describe the course of cognitive functioning in first-episode psychosis and to determine possible differences in the degree and trajectory of cognitive deficits between schizophrenia and non-schizophrenia first-episode psychosis.

Method: We assessed attention, working memory, and executive functioning in 57 patients with first-episode psychosis both at baseline and at 1-year of follow-up.

Results: For the overall group, significant reductions were found in the percentage of omission and commission errors for the sustained attention task (p<0.

Cognitive performance and cigarette smoking in first-episode psychosis.

The purpose of this study is to describe possible differences in cognitive functioning between smoking and non-smoking patients with first-episode psychosis and to determine whether there is a better cognitive profile associated with smoking. We assessed 61 first-episode psychosis patients with a neuropsychological battery that included computerized measurements of attention, working memory, and executive functioning. Patients were grouped into two categories: non-smokers (0 cigarettes/day; n = 30) and smokers (>/=20 cigarettes/day; n = 31).

Processing speed mediates the relationship between verbal memory, verbal fluency, and functional outcome in chronic schizophrenia.

Verbal fluency and verbal memory have been reported to be diminished in patients with schizophrenia. These deficits could partially predict functional disability in this pathology. However, processing speed often mediates the relationship among cognitive processes in the disorder.