Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan-Mar;39(1):28-35.
doi: 10.1590/1516-4446-2015-1807. Epub 2016 Jan 9.

Sex-specific cognitive abnormalities in early-onset psychosis

Miguel Ruiz-Veguilla  1 , Josefa Moreno-Granados  1 , Maria D Salcedo-Marin  1 , Maria L Barrigon  2 , Maria J Blanco-Morales  3 , Evelio Igunza  3 , Anselmo Cañabate  4 , Maria D Garcia  5 , Teresa Guijarro  6 , Francisco Diaz-Atienza  7 , Maite Ferrin  8
Affiliations

Sex-specific cognitive abnormalities in early-onset psychosis

Miguel Ruiz-Veguilla et al. Braz J Psychiatry. 2017 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Objectives:: Brain maturation differs depending on the area of the brain and sex. Girls show an earlier peak in maturation of the prefrontal cortex. Although differences between adult females and males with schizophrenia have been widely studied, there has been less research in girls and boys with psychosis. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in verbal and visual memory, verbal working memory, auditory attention, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility between boys and girls.

Methods:: We compared a group of 80 boys and girls with first-episode psychosis to a group of controls.

Results:: We found interactions between group and sex in verbal working memory (p = 0.04) and auditory attention (p = 0.01). The female controls showed better working memory (p = 0.01) and auditory attention (p = 0.001) than males. However, we did not find any sex differences in working memory (p = 0.91) or auditory attention (p = 0.93) in the psychosis group.

Conclusions:: These results are consistent with the presence of sex-modulated cognitive profiles at first presentation of early-onset psychosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Neuropsychological profile stratified by group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Schmidt M, Blanz B, Dippe A, Koppe T, Lay B. Course of patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia during first episode occurring under age 18 years. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1995;245:93–100. - PubMed
    1. Clemmensen L, Vernal DL, Steinhausen HC. A systematic review of the long-term outcome of early onset schizophrenia. BMC Psychiatry. 2012;12:150. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schimmelman BG, Shultze-Lutter F. Early detection and the intervention of psychosis in children and adolescent: urgent need for studies. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012;21:239–41. - PubMed
    1. White T, Ho BC, Ward J, O´Leary D, Andreasen NC. Neuropsychological performance in first episode adolescent with schizophrenia: a comparison with First- Episode adult and adolescent control subjects. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;60:463–71. - PubMed
    1. Bozikas VP, Kosmidis MH, Peltekis A, Giannakou M, Nimatoudis I, Karavatos A, et al. Sex differences in neuropsychological functioning among schizophrenia patients. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2010;44:333–41. - PubMed