NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL IMPAIRMENT IN FIRST-EPISODE AND CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS

Patients with first-episode (FE) schizophrenia (n = 40), with chronic schizophrenia (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 40) matched for age, gender, education and parental socioeconomic status were administered a battery of standardized neuropsychological (NP) tests. Both patient groups showed generalized impairment relative to controls and the most pronounced deficits in visual-motor processing and attention (VSM). C ompared with FE patients, chronic schizophrenics performed worse in VS M and abstraction/flexibility. Our findings suggest that NP deficits a re fundamental manifestations of the illness, and that mainly frontall y based dysfunctions are more prominent in chronic, kraepelinian patie nts.