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Review
. 2024 Apr 3;14(4):359.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci14040359.

The Effect of Antipsychotics on Cognition in Schizophrenia-A Current Narrative Review

Petru Fabian Lungu  1 , Corina Miruna Lungu  2 , Alin Ciobica  1   3   4   5 , Ioana Miruna Balmus  6   7 , Raluca Vitalaru  8 , Ioannis Mavroudis  9 , Romeo Dobrin  8   10 , Mirela Cimpeanu  1 , Irina Luciana Gurzu  10
Affiliations
Review

The Effect of Antipsychotics on Cognition in Schizophrenia-A Current Narrative Review

Petru Fabian Lungu et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

The majority of schizophrenia-affected individuals display deficiencies in multiple cognitive domains such as attention, working memory, long-term memory, and learning, deficiencies that are stable throughout the disease. The purpose of this narrative review was to examine the effect of antipsychotics on several cognitive domains affected by schizophrenia. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Elsevier, Scopus, and DOAJ databases for randomized controlled trials and other studies investigating the effects of typical and atypical antipsychotics on cognition in patients with schizophrenia in studies conducted in the last decade. Results: The majority of studies included in this review showed that antipsychotics (especially SGAs) have positive effects on both cognition and general psychopathology of schizophrenia. We mention that treatment with antipsychotic substances represents an ongoing effort of the researchers, who are constantly searching for the best approach to meet the mental health needs of schizophrenia patients. Conclusions: Even with those positive results, it should be noted that more studies are needed in order to fully observe the various effects of certain antipsychotic substances on cognition.

Keywords: antipsychotics; cognition; schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Risk of bias for the included studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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