Analysis of Relationship Between Cognitive Functions and Impulsivity in Patients Suffering From Schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by loss of cognitive skills. The level of cognitive impairment may affect the degree of impulsiveness, which is defined as a constant willingness to take risks, unplanned activities, rapid decision-making. Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the correlation between the level of cognitive functioning and impulsivity. Methods: The total number of 32 patients (8 female and 15 male) were hospitalized for schizophrenia. They were examined with the Verbal Fluency Test , Trail Making Test (TMT A and B) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11a). The results of the BIS-11a were converted to the BIS-11. Results: The mean age of the patients was 34.9 (± 8.75). The average time from the end of education-10 (± 8.4) years. A higher degree of correlation between abnormal responses in Verbal Fluency (parts measuring phonemic verbal fluency) and impulsiveness (r = 0.61, p = 0.04) was found. These correlation referred also to the impulsiveness resulting from the lack of planning (r = 0.67, p = 0.01) , attention impulsiveness (r = 0.46, p = 0.04) and motor impulsiveness (r = 0.48, p = 0.03). The correlation between TMT and BIS (r =-0.1 part, Part B r =-0.25) was not significant (p> 0.05). Conclusion: The above results are preliminary and the research project will be continued.