Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia: an updated metanalysis of the scientific evidence

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Valentina Bianchi¹  Mario Fioravanti¹  Maria Elena Cinti¹ 

[1] Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Rome Sapienza, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy;

关键词: Schizophrenia;    Cognitive deficits;    Memory;    Attention;    Executive function;    Language;    IQ;    Meta-analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-12-64

 received in 2011-02-23, accepted in 2012-04-13,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis is an update of a previous meta-analysis published in 2005.MethodsIt includes the data published up to march 2010 for a total of 247 papers and 18,300 cases. Cognitive deficits are examined in 5 different domains: Memory functioning (128 studies), Global cognitive functioning (131 studies), Language (70 studies), Executive function (67 studies), Attention (76 studies). Only controlled studies were included: patients vs. normal subjects.ResultsResults evidence that in all domains and in all different analyses performed within each domain, patients show a significant reduction of cognitive efficiency with respect to normal subjects. The between studies heterogeneity is very high in almost all domains. There are various sources of this heterogeneity (age, sex, sample size, type of patients, and type of measurement) which contribute to the high degree of not-overlapping information offered by the single studies.ConclusionsOur results, based on the current scientific evidence, confirm the previous findings that there is a generalized impairment of various cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia when compared to normal cases. The modalities with which these results are obtained have not changed over the years and the more recent studies do not modify the high heterogeneity previously found between the studies. This reduces the methodological quality of the results. In order to improve the methodological quality of the studies performed in the field of cognitive deficits of patients with schizophrenia, various factors should be taken into account and better managed in designing future studies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Fioravanti et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012