COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA: A HOSPITAL BASED CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Schizophrenia is well known to cause impairment in multidimensional construct. Cognitive deficits in various domains have been consistently seen in patients of schizophrenia and is one of the core symptoms.Therefore, present study was designed to assess the impact of cognitive impairment on quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. Methods:A hospital based cross-sectional study on the assessment of cognitive impairment of schizophrenic patients. Total 60 patients were evaluated using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Addenbrooke's cognitive examination (ACE-III). Results: The mean age of study sample was 28.00±6.58 Years. The mean of total PANSS score of major cognitive impairment group was 84.25±23.43,the mean total ACE-III score of major cognitive impairment group was 54.25±4.90.There was a significant increase among all neurocognitive function score was observed. Conclusion: Present study findings depict that major cognitive impairment are seen in significant number of patients in schizophrenia. Though our study could not find any significant association between PANSS Score and neurocognitive functions.Hence,in schizophrenic patients priority interventions to improve QOL is utmost important.