The association between adaptive and cognitive deficits in geriatric chronic schizophrenic patients

Cognitive impairments have been shown to predict impairments in adaptive functioning in patients with chronic schizophrenia and to be more predictive of overall outcome than positive or negative symptoms of the illness. Both adaptive and cognitive impairments are multidimensional, and it is possible that correlations between these domains may be limited to certain aspects of these functions. In this study, 208 geriatric patients with chronic schizophrenia were examined with a cognitive battery and assessed with a structured scale to determine the extent of their adaptive functions. Instrumental and social skills deficits were more strongly correlated with cognitive impairments than with the severity of undercontrolled behavior. Each of the cognitive measures was correlated with global social-adaptive deficits, with minimal variation in the magnitude of correlations. These results suggest that interventions should be individually targeted to cognitive-adaptive impairments and undercontrolled behavior.