Abstract
Cognitive impairment affects real-world functioning in people with schizophrenia who often face difficulties in their activities of daily living. Subjectively-assessed cognitive impairment can be evaluated through data on the patient's daily difficulties, as reported by the patient. However, the specific neurocognitive functions responsible for these cognitive impairments have not been clarified. We examined cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia using the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale Japanese version (SCoRS-J) and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia Japanese version (BACS-J). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between subjectively-assessed cognitive impairment and objectively assessed neurocognition in patients with schizophrenia. The results showed that patients' global rating scores of the SCoRS-J were significantly correlated with the BACS-J attention scores (r = −0.376, p < 0.008), which indicates that the difficulties patients perceived in their daily lives are due to deficits in attentional functioning, as measured by neurocognitive testing. Thus, our findings indicate that improving attentional functioning may also alleviate difficulties in patients' daily lives.
1. Introduction
Schizophrenia is characterized by psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and cognitive impairments. Cognitive impairments affect real-world functioning, which make the patient's life difficult (Bowie et al., 2010). Neurocognitive functions, including verbal memory, immediate memory, executive functioning, and vigilance, are related to functional outcomes such as daily activities, social problemsolving, and psychosocial skill acquisition (Green et al., 2000). Cognitive impairment is associated with functional outcome severity in patients with schizophrenia (Green et al., 2000).
4.1. Conclusion
The results showed that inpatients who experienced general difficulties in activities of daily living that require adequate cognitive functioning had lower attentional functioning as measured by the BACSJ. It is possible to improve patients' difficulties in their daily lives, if an approach focused on attentional functioning is successfully introduced. The subjects of this study were Japanese, older, long-term hospitalized patients with severe cognitive impairment, severe psychiatric symptoms, and taking high dosages of medication.
