SEX-DIFFERENCES IN OLFACTORY IDENTIFICATION AND WISCONSIN CARD SORTING PERFORMANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - RELATIONSHIP TO ATTENTION AND VERBAL-ABILITY

We investigated the hypothesis that different prefrontal brain systems (i.e., dorsal vs. ventral) and sex contribute differentially to cogni tive deficit in schizophrenia. Performance was assessed among clinical ly stable, chronic schizophrenic outpatients and matched normal contro l subjects on olfactory identification [on the University of Pennsylva nia Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)] and on executive functions [usi ng the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)]. Patients were impaired on both tests compared to controls, and male schizophrenics were impaired on the WCST compared to female schizophrenics. The pattern of results suggests that gender differences on the UPSIT are mildly accentuated in schizophrenia. The data support our previous study indicating that UPSIT performance is largely independent of the executive or attention al deficits typically associated with schizophrenia, with the exceptio n of verbal ability. Further research with larger samples is required to test the hypothesis that there is a severely impaired subgroup of m ale patients with diffuse prefrontal dysfunctions. (C) 1997 Society of Biological Psychiatry.