The Longitudinal Stability of Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Severe cognitive impairment affects many patients with schizophrenia, especially geriatric in-patients. Little is known about the course of this impairment, however. METHOD: Two hundred and twenty-four geriatric schizophrenic in-patients were examined for changes in cognitive functioning over a one-year follow-up period, and 45 of them were assessed over a two-year period. In addition, the subset of 45 patients participated in a one-week and one-month test-retest reliability study of the instrument used to assess cognitive impairment, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). RESULTS: The average MMSE scores did not change over a one- or two-year follow-up period. The test-retest reliability of the scale was extremely good at both retest intervals. CONCLUSION: Among the implications of these data are that cognitive changes in geriatric schizophrenic patients are very slow and are more consistent with a neurodevelopmental process than a neurodegenerative course.