Relevant factors to cognitive impairment among community chronic schizophrenia patients

Objective To explore relevant factors to cognitive impairment among community patients with chronic schizophrenia in Wuxi municipality and to provide scientific evidences for making effective intervention measures.Methods With stratified randomized cluster sampling,all chronic schizophrenia patients aged 18-60 years and registered in four communities (Jianghai,Guangyi,Lihu,and Xuelang) in Wuxi city were enrolled in this study.A general questionnaire,Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS),Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS) and Chinese Cognitive Ability Scale (CCAS) were used in household survey.Binomial logistic regression method was used to analyze the influencing factors.Results Of the 305 chronic schizophrenia patients completing the entire survey,56.72% had cognitive impairment and 34.10%,20.98%, and 1.64% had critical state,mild,and moderate cognitive impairment. The results of multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the cognitive impairment was associated with education (odds ratioOR=5.343 for the patients having the education of 0-6 years compared to those having the education of ≥13 years) and SDSS score (ORs=2.904 and 4.547 for the patients with the scores of 6-9 and ≥10 point compared to those with the score of < 2);the result also revealed that the protective factors of cognitive impairment included competitive employment (OR=0.330),sheltered employment (OR=0.315),being covered by case management (OR=0.204),the duration of untreated psychosis less than 1 year (OR=0.402),familial monthly income per capita of more than 2 000 RMB yuan (OR=0.621),and concern to the patient (OR=0.847) and the risk factors included being hospitalized more than 2 times (OR=2.832) and clinical manifestations of negative symptoms (OR=1.207).Conclusion Early detection and intervention,case management,improvement in patient's employment and survival environment are helpful to the prevention of cognitive impairment among chronic schizophrenia patients.