Age and neuropsychologic function in schizophrenia: A decline in executiveabilities beyond that observed in healthy volunteers

Background: Kraepelin originally conceptualized schizophrenia as a degenera tive brain disorder Ir remains unclear whether the illness is characterized bq a static encephalopathy or a deterioration of brain function, or period s of each condition, Assessments of cognitive function, as measured by neur opsychologic assessment, can provide additional insight into this question. Few studies of patients with schizophrenia have investigated the effect of aging on executive functions, in an extensive neuropsychologic battery acr oss a wide age range, compared to healthy volunteers. Methods: We examined the interaction of aging and neuropsychologic function in schizophrenia through a cross-sectional study in patients (n = 87) and healthy control subjects (n = 94), Subjects were divided into three age gro ups (20-35 36-49, and 50-75), and performance on an extensive neuropsycholo gic battery was evaluated Results: Compared to control subjects, patients with schizophrenia demonstr ated similar age-related declines across most neuropsychologic functions, w ith the exception of abstraction ability, in which significant evidence of a more accelerated decline was observed. Conclusions: These results are consistent with previous reports indicating similar age effects on most aspects of cognition in patients with schizophr enia and healthy adults, but they support the hypothesis that a degenerativ e process may result in a more accelerated decline of some executive functi ons in older age in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 2000; 48:137-146 (C) 200 0 Society of Biological Psychiatry.