Assessment of Interrelationships Between Cognitive Performance, Symptomatic Manifestation and Social Functioning in the Acute and Clinical Stability Phase of Schizophrenia: Insights from a Network Analysis

Background: It has been shown that various aspects of clinical manifestation of schizophrenia are strongly related to social functioning. However, it remains unknown as to whether similar factors predict social functioning at various stages of psychosis. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the effects of interconnections between various domains of psychopathology and neurocognition on social functioning in people during acute phase of psychosis and those during remission of positive and disorganization symptoms using a network analysis.

Methods: Two independent samples of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were enrolled (89 inpatients during acute phase and 90 outpatients during remission of positive and disorganization symptoms). Clinical assessment covered the levels of functioning, positive, negative and depressive symptoms. Cognition was recorded using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Data were analyzed by means of the network analysis. Two separate networks of clinical symptoms, social functioning, and cognition (i.e., in patients during acute phase of psychosis and remitted outpatients with schizophrenia) were analyzed and compared with respect to the measures of centrality (betweenness, closeness, strength, and expected influence) and edge weights.

Results: In both networks, the majority of centrality metrics (expected influence, strength, and closeness) had the highest values for the RBANS scores of attention (the sum of scores from two tasks, i.e., digit span and coding) and immediate memory. In both networks, social functioning was directly connected to positive, negative and depressive symptoms as well as the RBANS scores of attention and language. Additionally, in remitted patients, social functioning was directly connected to the RBANS score of immediate memory.

Conclusions: Findings from the present study indicate the central role of cognitive deficits, especially those related to attention, processing speed, working and immediate memory in shaping functional impairments regardless of schizophrenia phase. Therapeutic interventions that aim to improve functional capacity need to target these domains of neurocognitive performance.