Corollary-And Discrepancy-Based Approaches for Examining the Appropriateness of Premorbid Cognitive Estimation in Geriatric Schizophrenia

Abstract

Objective: This article addresses whether measures for assessing premorbid intellectual functioning are adequate for geriatric schizophrenia. Method: We included geriatric schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD; n = 37), frontotemporal dementia (FTD; n = 41), and geriatric controls (n = 107), and employed measures of verbal ability. Results: Pearson's correlations and ANOVAs for discrepancy comparisons showed unique patterns of spared function in SSD when compared to FTD and controls. Conclusions: Findings lend support to the specificity of cognitive processes in SSD, even when accounting for processes common to the theoretically similar FTD. SSD showed a distinct pattern of spared ability which supports clinical utilization of discrepant measures of premorbid intellectual estimation for SSD.

Keywords:

• cognition
• dementia
• geriatric
• premorbid ability
• psychiatric disorders
• schizophrenia