Cognitive Impairment Associated with Schizophrenia (CIAS)
Disease Overview
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric brain disorder classically characterized as having two domains of symptoms: positive symptoms (such as hallucinations and delusions) and negative symptoms (such as social withdrawal and apathy). However, physicians have long recognized that other areas of brain function are impaired in schizophrenic patients, and in particular cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS) has a profound impact their ability function normally. The majority of patients with schizophrenia (approximately 75%) have significant impairments in important cognitive functions such as memory and attention, and these cognitive impairments contribute to the general functional disability that prevents patients with schizophrenia from working and participating in social activities.
Symptoms
CIAS is characterized by a profound impairment in various domains of cognition. The Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative has identified seven cognitive domains that are affected in patients with schizophrenia: working memory, speed of processing, attention/vigilance, verbal learning, visual learning, reasoning and problem solving, and social cognition. Individual patients may have impairments in one or more of these cognitive domains.
Treatment
There are currently no approved drugs that address or resolve the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia. Existing drug treatments for schizophrenia are focused on the treatment of the positive and negative symptoms associated with the disorder.
Causes
Schizophrenia is a complex illness, which is thought to be due to a number of different factors acting together. These factors may include genetic influences, trauma (injury) to the brain occurring at or around the time of birth, and the effects of social isolation and/or stress. Other effects may also be important, but no one factor can be said to be the cause of schizophrenia. Rather, each of these factors is thought to increase the risk that a person may develop symptoms.