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. 2018 Jul-Dec;27(2):181-189.
doi: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_85_18.

Executive function in patients with schizophrenia based on socio-occupational impairment: A cross-sectional study

Delnaz Palsetia  1 , K Chandrasekhar  1 , M S Reddy  1 , Avinash De Sousa  2 , Sagar Karia  2
Affiliations

Executive function in patients with schizophrenia based on socio-occupational impairment: A cross-sectional study

Delnaz Palsetia et al. Ind Psychiatry J. 2018 Jul-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Executive dysfunction deficit is the functionally most important cognitive deficit noted in schizophrenia. There is a dearth of Indian literature on the subject. The current study aimed at studying these executive functions in patients with schizophrenia in remission.

Methodology: Sixty outpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia as per international classification of diseases-10 criteria; in remission as measured by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores were divided into two groups using the personal and social performance scale. The patients with and without socio-occupational impairment formed the two groups. All patients were administered the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop test, Color Trails Test 1 and 2, Phonemic Fluency (Controlled Oral Word Association Test), and category fluency (animal names test) tests and the tower of London test to ascertain deficits in executive functions. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis.

Results: The two groups were well matched. The group with socio-occupational impairment showed a lesser number of categories completed (P = 0.001), more perseverative errors (P = 0.001), and greater percentage of the same (P = 0.001) on the WCST. Statistically significant differences between both groups were observed for scores on phonemic fluency (P = 0.012) and category fluency (P = 0.049) tests as well as the Tower of London test (P = 0.021). They also showed differences on the Stroop test and Color Trail tests, but this was not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Performance on executive function tests is significantly correlated with functional outcome. It is important that future studies explore the role of these tests as a marker of socio-occupational impairment in schizophrenia.

Keywords: Execution functions; remission; schizophrenia; socio-occupational impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scores on number of categories of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in both groups
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of Perseverative errors in both groups on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage of perseverative errors on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in both groups
Figure 4
Figure 4
Phonemic fluency (average number of words) in both groups
Figure 5
Figure 5
Category fluency (number of words) in both groups
Figure 6
Figure 6
Transactional net margin method in both groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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