The longitudinal stability of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Mini-mental state scores at one- and two-year follow-ups in geriatric in-patients

Background. Severe cognitive impairment affects many patients with schizophrenia, especially geriatric in-patients. Little is known about the course of this impairment, however. Method. Two hundred and twenty-four geriatric schizophrenic in-patients were examined for changes in cognitive functioning over a one-year follow-up period, and 45 of them were assessed over a two-year period. In addition, the subset of 45 patients participated in a one-week and one-month test-retest reliability study of the instrument used to assess cognitive impairment, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results. The average MMSE scores did not change over a one- or two-year follow-up period. The test-retest reliability of the scale was extremely good at both retest intervals. Conclusion. Among the implications of these data are that cognitive changes in geriatric schizophrenic patients are very slow and are more consistent with a neurodevelopmental process than a neurodegenerative course.