[The Short-Form impairment index (SFII) in schizophrenic patients]

The SFII (Short-Form Impairment Index, Horton and cols, 1986) was used to assess cognitive impairment in patients with DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia and its relationship to the positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms was studied. Two samples of DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients were studied. The first sample was composed of 30 consecutively inpatients admitted by recrudescence of their symptoms. The second was composed of 19 patients that were attending to a Day Psychiatric Hospital by recrudescence of their symptoms or by socio-familiar dysfunctions. The SFII included three subtest: the "Trail Making" Form B, and cubes and digit symbol from the WAIS, that were converted to typical scores adjusted to age (Reitan, 1973). The positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms were assessed by the Andreasen scales (SAPS y SANS). No differences in epidemiological variables were found between both samples. Higher cognitive impairment (lower SFII) and higher negative symptoms were significantly correlated in both samples. This result suggests that the SFII could be a good marker of cognitive functioning in schizophrenic patients in postacute samples and also in mixed schizophrenic patients (acute and defectual population). The SFII presented some limitations in our young samples derived from their age-corrected values.