Research Paper Title
The Association Between Metabolic Disturbance and Cognitive Impairments in Early-Stage Schizophrenia.
Background
Cognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia, which is considered to be significantly correlated to prognosis. In recent years, many studies have suggested that metabolic disorders could be related to a higher risk of cognitive defects in a general setting. However, there has been limited evidence on the association between metabolism and cognitive function in patients with early-stage schizophrenia.
Methods
In this study, the researchers recruited 172 patients with early-stage schizophrenia. Relevant metabolic parameters were examined and cognitive function was evaluated by using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) to investigate the relationship between metabolic disorder and cognitive impairment.
Results
Generally, the prevalence of cognitive impairment among patients in our study was 84.7% (144/170), which was much higher than that in the general population. Compared with the general Chinese setting, the study population presented a higher proportion of metabolic disturbance. Patients who had metabolic disturbance showed no significant differences on cognitive function compared with the other patients. Correlation analysis showed that metabolic status was significantly correlated with cognitive function as assessed by the cognitive domain scores (p < 0.05), while such association was not found in further multiple regression analysis.
Conclusions
Therefore, there may be no association between metabolic disorder and cognitive impairment in patients with early-stage schizophrenia.
Reference
Peng, X-J., Hei, G-R., Li, R-R., Yang, Y., Liu, C-C., Xiao, J-M., Long, Y-J., Shao, P., Huang, J., Zhao, J-P. & Wu, R-R. (2021) The Association Between Metabolic Disturbance and Cognitive Impairments in Early-Stage Schizophrenia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.599720. eCollection 2020.
Mental Health Matters 