Poster #146 DEFICIT AND NON-DEFICIT SCHIZOPHRENIA: LONGITUDINAL COURSE OF NEUROCOGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT. A PROSPECTIVE 5 YEARS FOLLOW-UP STUDY (original) (raw)

Background: Carpenter et al. (1985) proposed a subtype of schizophrenia characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms named deficit schizophrenia (DS) which is distinct from other forms of schizophrenia (nondeficit schizophrenia, NDS). The deficit syndrome represents an attempt to find homogeneous clinical samples of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (Carpenter et al., 1988). The aim of this study is to examine longitudinal course of neurocognitive and functional performance in a sample of schizophrenia patients classified as DS and NDS. Methods: Ninety-one outpatients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV/SCID), stabilized as described elsewhere (Sánchez-Morla et al., 2009a), were classified as deficit and non-deficit syndrome using the Spanish version of the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) (Bernardo et al., 2007). Forty healthy controls (SCID version non-patients) were also assessed. Patient and control groups were evaluated at baseline (EV1) and 5 years later (EV2).