Academic deterioration prior to first episode schizophrenia in young Singaporean males.

There has been relatively little study of the longitudinal course of cognitive functioning before the onset of schizophrenia. We report scores from standardized academic examinations at ages 12 and 16 years of 30 male patients with a first episode of schizophrenia (FES) and a normal control group balanced for gender, age, parental socio-economic class and academic scores at age 12. The FES group had greater deterioration in mathematics scores and poorer educational outcome, possibly reflecting neurocognitive changes that preceded the onset of schizophrenia.