Abstract
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which clear consciousness and the intellectual capacity are usually maintained, although certain cognitive deficits may evolve in the course of illness. Working memory impairment in schizophrenia affects the course, outcome, and quality of life of the patient significantly. The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of working memory impairment in drug naive schizophrenic patients. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done in a tertiary care hospital, from June 2015 to December 2015 after taking ethical clearance from institutional review board registration number 38970/062/063. Convenience sampling was done. The samples of 30 schizophrenic patients between the ages of 15 to 45 years were enrolled from the inpatient and outpatient unit of department according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data was collected and entry was done in Epi Info, point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. The prevalence of working memory impairment was 26 (86.7%) in digit span forward test and 27 (90%) in digit span backward test. The mean age of patients was 27.5 years and the age of onset of schizophrenia was mainly in the age group between 16 to 25 years 16 (53.3%). These finding suggests high prevalence of working memory impairment in schizophrenic patients.
Highlights
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which clear consciousness and the intellectual capacity are usually maintained, certain cognitive deficits may evolve in the course of illness.[1]
The mean age of patient according to one study attending psychiatry OPD in Kathmandu was 29.87 years and 80% of the patients were from the age group of 11–40 years.[7]
In the in-patient population, one study reported the mean age of the patients of 30.67 years and 58% of the patients coming from the age group between 21 to 40 years.[12]
Summary
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which clear consciousness and the intellectual capacity are usually maintained, certain cognitive deficits may evolve in the course of illness. Working memory impairment in schizophrenia affects the course, outcome, and quality of life of the patient significantly. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which clear consciousness and the intellectual capacity are usually maintained, certain cognitive deficits may evolve in the course of illness.[1] Schizophrenia is prototype psychotic disorder and one of the most important illnesses in psychiatry, the expression of symptoms varies across patients and over time.[2] The study conducted in the 14 countries for disability associated with physical and mental condition, active psychosis was ranked third.[3]. Working memory impairment in schizophrenia affects the course, outcome and quality of life of the patient Memory impairments are quite common and often moderate to severe in magnitude in schizophrenia.[4,5]
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