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Processing speed and executive functions predict real-world everyday living skills in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia

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Abstract

Cognition and clinical variables are known to be among the most predictive factors of real-world social functioning and daily living skills in adult-onset schizophrenia. Fewer studies have focused on their impact in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS). The aim of this study is to examine the relationships and the predictive value of cognition and clinical variables on real-world daily living skills in a sample of adolescents with EOS. Cognitive, clinical and real-world everyday living skills measures were administered to 45 clinically and pharmacologically stabilized adolescent outpatients with EOS and 45 healthy control subjects matched by age and sex. Multi-variant analyses to compare cognitive and real-world functioning profiles between patients and controls and regression analysis to identify predictors of real-world functioning scores in patients were used. Adolescents with EOS showed a generalized cognitive and real-world daily living skills dysfunction. Several cognitive and clinical variables significantly correlated with real-world daily living skills functioning but only the processing speed and executive functions emerged as independent predictors of everyday living skills scores, explaining 25.1% of the variance. Slowness in processing information and executive dysfunction showed a significant impact on real-world daily living skills in EOS, independently from clinical symptoms and other cognitive variables. Nevertheless, much of the variance in the daily living skills measure remained unaccounted for, suggesting that other factors were involved as well in this young population.

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Acknowledgments

Supported in part by “Instituto de Salud Carlos III”, “Fondo Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS)” and by the Government of Catalonia, Comissionat per Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa 2009-SGR-1119.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Institut Clínic de Neurociències. SGR 1119. Hospital Clínic Universitari, Barcelona, Spain

    O. Puig, I. Baeza, V. Sánchez-Gistau, E. De la Serna, L. Fonrodona, S. Andrés-Perpiñá & J. Castro-Fornieles

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Cibersam, Spain

    O. Puig, R. Penadés, I. Baeza, V. Sánchez-Gistau, E. De la Serna, S. Andrés-Perpiñá, M. Bernardo & J. Castro-Fornieles

  3. Programa Esquizofrenia Clínic, Barcelona, Spain

    R. Penadés, I. Baeza & M. Bernardo

  4. Department of Clinical Psychology, Hospital Clínic Universitari, Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Barcelona, Spain

    R. Penadés

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Clínic Universitari, Institut Clínic de Neurociències, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Bernardo

  6. Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica August Pi i Sunyer, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain

    R. Penadés, M. Bernardo & J. Castro-Fornieles

  7. Health Science Division, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Bernardo & J. Castro-Fornieles

  8. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Hospital Clínic Universitari of Barcelona, C/Villarroel 170, Barcelona, 08036, Spain

    O. Puig

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  1. O. Puig
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Puig, O., Penadés, R., Baeza, I. et al. Processing speed and executive functions predict real-world everyday living skills in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 21, 315–326 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-012-0262-0

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