Differential preservation of cognitive functions in geriatric patients with lifelong chronic schizophrenia: Less impairment in reading compared with other skill areas

Background: Our study examined the differential performance of cognitive sk ills in geriatric, cognitively impaired schizophrenic patients (n = 165) wi th a lengthy course of institutional stay and a poor overall functional out come. Their relative deficits were compared with a sample of healthy elderl y individuals. Methods: Schizophrenic patients were matched one-to-one with healthy indivi duals of the same age and education and compared on a number of measures of cognitive functioning. The schizophrenic patients' old-learning performanc e was also compared with their educational level only. Results: Mini-Mental State Examination (Folstein ct al 1975) scopes of the patients were in the moderately demented range (M = 20.36), and these patie nts under-performed healthy control subjects by more than I to slightly les s than 3 standard deviations on measures of memory, praxis, and verbal skil ls. Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised word-recognition reading scores wer e found to be at the 10th-grade level, although the patients on average had completed 11 years of formal education. Conclusions: These results suggest that even in schizophrenic patients with significant cognitive impairment, reading scores are relatively consistent ,with educational attainment. These data indicate that poor performance on measures of cognitive functioning in this population does riot necessarily occur on measures of old learning. (C) 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatr y.