Studies evaluating the cognitive impairment in schizophrenic adolescents reported a variable course following antipsychotic treatment, with improvement being associated to patients' demographic or clinical characteristics. Objectives To examine the cognitive impairments of a Mexican sample of adolescents with schizophrenia using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) before and after six months of antipsychotic treatment and to determine which demographic or clinical characteristics could be associated to cognitive improvement. Methods A sample of 87 Mexican patients was evaluated with the MCCB. Domain scores for three age groups (12–13, 14–15 and 16–17 y.o.) were obtained at baseline, and after 3 and 6 months of treatment. The groups were compared for demographic and clinical variables (sex, school attendance, years of education, being on their first psychotic episode, duration of illness and mean dose of antipsychotic), and a logistic regression analysis was performed to determine which variables predicted larger improvement. Results The baseline performance showed scores below the standardized mean, with improvement in all domains except for social cognition; female adolescents showed a larger improvement in attention/vigilance and visual learning domains. Conclusions We observed cognitive impairments on schizophrenic adolescents, which improved after six months of treatment in almost all domains.

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Background: Early-onset psychosis (EOP) is among the leading causes of disease burden in adolescents. Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits predicts poorer functional outcome. A better understanding of the association between negative symptoms and cognitive impairment may inform theories on underlying mechanisms and elucidate targets for development of new treatments. Two domains of negative symptoms have been described in adult patients with schizophrenia: apathy and diminished expression, however, the factorial structure of negative symptoms has not been investigated in EOP. We aimed to explore the factorial structure of negative symptoms and investigate associations between cognitive performance and negative symptom domains in adolescents with EOP. We hypothesized that (1) two negative symptom factors would be identifiable, and that (2) diminished expression would be more strongly associated with cognitive performance, similar to adult psychosis patients.Methods: Adolescent patients with non-affective EOP (n = 169) were included from three cohorts: Youth-TOP, Norway (n = 45), Early-Onset Study, Norway (n = 27) and Adolescent Schizophrenia Study, Mexico (n = 97). An exploratory factor analysis was performed to investigate the underlying structure of negative symptoms (measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)). Factor-models were further assessed using confirmatory factor analyses. Associations between negative symptom domains and six cognitive domains were assessed using multiple linear regression models controlling for age, sex and cohort. The neurocognitive domains from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery included: speed of processing, attention, working memory, verbal learning, visual learning, and reasoning and problem solving.Results: The exploratory factor analysis of PANSS negative symptoms suggested retaining only a single factor, but a forced two factor solution corroborated previously described factors of apathy and diminished expression in adult-onset schizophrenia. Results from confirmatory factor analysis indicated a better fit for the two-factor model than for the one-factor model. For both negative symptom domains, negative symptom scores were inversely associated with verbal learning scores.Conclusion: The results support the presence of two domains of negative symptoms in EOP; apathy and diminished expression. Future studies on negative symptoms in EOP should examine putative differential effects of these symptom domains. For both domains, negative symptom scores were significantly inversely associated with verbal learning.

The guideline-based treatment had a greater effect than the treatment as usual in the psychosocial functioning of adolescent patients ( www.clinicaltrials.gov ; II3/02/0811).

The potential of video games as diagnostic tools for cognitive deficits has been poorly studied. There is a lack of well-designed studies addressing the psychometric properties and standardization values of video games. Chefmania is a video game designed as a screening test in Spanish to determine cognitive alterations, as well as academic concepts such as number, space, time, and instructions follow-up in children above 6 years of age. The present study aimed to evaluate the validity of Chefmania as well as the normative values of a Mexican sample. The standardization included 266 children divided into three age groups: 6–7, 8–9, and 10–12 years olds; concurrent validity was determined by the correlation between Chefmania and other standardized cognitive batteries. Discriminant validity was determined by the comparison of Chefmania scores between school children and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Standardization showed an age effect, where older children performed better in Chefmania subtests. Chefmania showed significant and moderate correlations with other cognitive batteries. Children with ADHD showed poorer performance. Chefmania is a valid instrument for the assessment of cognition and is suitable for use in schools.