Cognitive scores as a potential diagnostic tool in schizophrenia: the use of raw and discrepancy scores

Objective Cognitive scores could be a useful tool when discriminating between patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and non-psychiatric population. However, whether these scores can contribute to the accurate diagnosis of the disease is still unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the best appr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gómez Gastiasoro, Ainara, Peña Lasa, Javier, Zubiaurre Elorza, Leire, Del Pino Sáez, Rocío, Ibarretxe Bilbao, Naroa, Ojeda, Natalia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:addi________::3379e464df74e181eeb8cf824699a89c
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/78817
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:assessment
cognition
discrepancy scores
processing speed
schizophrenia
verbal memory
Descripción
Sumario:Objective Cognitive scores could be a useful tool when discriminating between patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and non-psychiatric population. However, whether these scores can contribute to the accurate diagnosis of the disease is still unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the best approach as to the inclusion of cognitive impairment as a potential clinical tool in the diagnosis of SZ. Method A total of 258 patients with SZ and 202 healthy controls (HC) were assessed by means of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and the Trail Making Test-A (TMT-A). In addition to raw scores, participants' discrepancy scores (DS) in these two cognitive measures were calculated using regression-based norms controlling for age, years of education and premorbid intelligence quotient. Receiver-operating characteristic analyses were performed for both scores in order to assess their diagnostic properties. Results The areas under the curve (AUC) of the HVLT-R total and delayed recall, and TMT-A raw scores were statistically significant and ranged from 0.67 to 0.87. Although significant, AUC of verbal memory DS were lower than those of raw scores (AUC = 0.84; AUC = 0.80). AUC of TMT-A DS was not significant. Conclusions Results suggest that cognitive scores are useful and accurate when discriminating and classifying patients with SZ and HC in the present sample. Raw scores were shown to be more accurate than DS in patients with SZ and to present good diagnostic properties especially regarding verbal memory measures. Obtained indices support the use of cognitive scores as diagnostic criterion in the diagnosis of SZ.