Symptoms and Cognition as Predictors of Community Functioning: A Prospective Analysis
- 1 March 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 156 (3), 400-405
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.156.3.400
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that level of cognitive functioning as assessed by formal neurocognitive tests may be as important as, or even more important than, symptoms in predicting level of community functioning for patients with schizophrenia. The results of past prospective studies, when carefully examined, do not consistently support this hypothesis. In the current study, the authors used symptom and neurocognitive data to predict subsequent level of functioning in the community. METHOD: Neurocognitive and symptom data collected as part of an earlier study were used to predict the community functioning of 50 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Using the Life Skills Profile, staff of a community mental health program assessed community functioning while blind to the earlier symptom ratings and neurocognitive performance. RESULTS: Symptoms were more predictive of community functioning than were neurocognitive measures. Disorganization symptoms were generally more predictive of community functioning than was either psychomotor poverty or reality distortion. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study and of previous longitudinal studies suggest the importance of using symptom levels after optimal treatment, rather than symptoms during acute episodes, as predictors of community functioning. They also indicate the need to evaluate the effects of treatment on disorganization as a separable dimension of symptoms. (Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156:400–405)Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- The functional significance of symptomatology and cognitive function in schizophreniaSchizophrenia Research, 1997
- Neuropsychological correlates of syndromes in schizophreniaThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1997
- Relationships between social competence, psychopathology and work performance and their predictive value for vocational rehabilitation of schizophrenic outpatientsSchizophrenia Research, 1997
- Neurocognitive deficits and social functioning in outpatients with schizophreniaSchizophrenia Research, 1996
- Neuropsychological Prediction of Treatment Efficacy and One-Year Outcome in SchizophreniaPsychopathology, 1993
- Schizophrenic Syndromes and Frontal Lobe PerformanceThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1991
- The Prediction of Rehabilitative Success after Three Years the use of Social, Symptom and Cognitive VariablesThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1990
- Further Investigation of the Predictors of Outcome Following First Schizophrenic EpisodesThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1990
- The Symptoms of Chronic SchizophreniaThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1987
- Design fluency: The invention of nonsense drawings after focal cortical lesionsNeuropsychologia, 1977