Cognitive Dysfunction in Early and Late Onset Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study

The aim of this present study was to assess the cognitive dysfunctions among early onset schizophrenia and Late onset schizophrenia. Methods: The study was conducted at Ranchi Institute of Neuro- Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), Kanke, Ranchi. Based on purposive sampling method a group of forty male schizophrenic patients between the age range of 18 to 42 years were taken twenty patients were early onset schizophrenia (18 to 30 years) and twenty patients were of late onset of schizophrenia (31 to 42) years who were diagnosed according to the DCR, ICD – 10 were selected from different words of RINPAS. Similarly twenty normal controls were selected from different localities of Ranchi. Results: Significant result found on different domains. A normal control on VAIS was better than schizophrenic groups, between the schizophrenics groups the late onset schizophrenics performance better than early onset schizophrenics patient. The performance of normal controls on WAPIS-PR was better than schizophrenic groups, between the schizophrenics groups the late onset schizophrenics performance better than early onset schizophrenics patient. The performance of normal on controls on WCST was better than schizophrenic groups, between the schizophrenics groups the late onset schizophrenics performance better than early onset schizophrenics patient. Late onset schizophrenic patients performed better than early onset schizophrenic patients, indicating that late onset schizophrenics are relatively less impaired than early onset schizophrenics, with respect of cognitive function, as measured by IQ and WCST performance.