However, even when strong associations between symptom severity and cognitive function are evident, even schizophrenia patients with low severity of such symptoms exhibit profound cognitive impairments.42 The

inconsistency regarding the association of positive symptoms and cognitive function strongly suggests that neuropsychological test results should be interpreted in great caution if carried out when patients are actively psychotic. In research settings, cognitive assessments are almost always done when the patient is improved or in remission. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Cognitive deficits in other psychotic disorders The evidence presented in the previous sections indicates that individuals with schizophrenia present severe AG 013736 mouse impairments in attention, executive functions, episodic memory, certain aspects of working memory performance, and processing speed. Cognitive functions that are relatively spared in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical schizophrenia include language functions, perceptual processes and nondeclarative memory. Studies have suggested that patients with other psychotic

disorders could also demonstrate a disruption of normal cognitive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical performance, but results have not always been consistent. The question of specificity of cognitive impairment has been recently investigated in two large epidemiological samples.53,54 These studies compared neuropsychological functioning between psychotic patients with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar mania, and depressive psychosis, and have shown that differences in neuropsychological performance between schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are quantitative and not qualitative. Cognitive deficits are present in all psychotic disorders following the first psychotic episode, but are most severe and pervasive in schizophrenia Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and least so in bipolar manic disorder (Figure 2). Figure 2. Neuropsychological

performance profile of schizophrenia, psychotic major depressive disorder, and psychotic bipolar disorder. Performance was compared with healthy controls and is presented in standard deviation units (effect sizes). Data are from the … The results of meta-analyses clearly demonstrate that the cognitive deficit Ketanserin also persists throughout euthymic states in bipolar mania,55,58 although it is slightly less pronounced.57 These results suggest that, as in schizophrenia, cognitive deficit is not simply a by-product of other symptoms.59 However, some of the cognitive deficits observed in euthymic patients could be related to the effects of illness-related factors. Similarly to schizophrenia,39 medication effects on the magnitude of processing speed impairment have been reported.60 Significant moderator effects on cognition in bipolar mania have also been reported for age of onset,60 number of manic episodes,61,62 and duration of illness.