Objective: To determine the influence of schizophrenia patients with diabetes on cognitive function.
Methods: Altogether 78 schizophrenia patients with diabetes and 118 patients with schizophrenia were enrolled and Negative and Positive Syndrome Scale, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Visual Reproduction Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Digit Symbol Test, Computerized Wisconsin Card Sorting Test,Trail Making Tests, Part A and B, and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Digit Span Test were used to assess the clinical syndrome and to test the cognitive function.
Results: Impairment of Processing Speed, Attention/Working Memory, Executive Functioning and Visual Memory in schizophrenia patients with diabetes was significantly poorer than that of the schizophrenia patients (all P<0.05). WAIS-R Digit Symbol Test score and Trail Making Test A and B scores were associated with diabetes duration and age at diabetes onset (P<0.01).
Conclusion: The impairment of cognitive function in schizophrenia patients with diabetes is severer than schizophrenia patients, suggesting that the prevention and management of diabetes may improve cognitive outcome in schizophrenia patients.