Correlates of risk factors for reduced life expectancy in schizophrenia: Is it possible to develop a predictor profile?

Patients with schizophrenia have significantly greater mortality rates than the general population, with an estimated reduced lifespan of 10 –20 years. We previously reported on a link between impairment in cognition and premature death in a prospective 20-year study. Patients who had died prematurely showed neurocognitive impairment in nine different cognitive tests compared to those who did not. Based on those findings, in this stu dy the surviving patients in the cohort were divided into three different groups based on neurocognitive impairment and compared on symptom severity including remission status, RAND-36, weight and BMI at onset of illness and baseline of the study, and medical/physical symptomatology (i.e., blood pre ssure, symptom awareness, vertigo and orthostatic symptoms).
Source: Schizophrenia Research - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research