Evaluation of factors affecting continuous performance test identical pairs version score of schizophrenic patients in a Japanese clinical sample.

Aim. Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia strongly relates to social outcome and is a good candidate for endophenotypes. When we accurately measure drug efficacy or effects of genes or variants relevant to schizophrenia on cognitive impairment, clinical factors that can affect scores on cognitive tests, such as age and severity of symptoms, should be considered. To elucidate the effect of clinical factors, we conducted multiple regression analysis using scores of the Continuous Performance Test Identical Pairs Version (CPT-IP), which is often used to measure attention/vigilance in schizophrenia. Methods. We conducted the CPT-IP (4-4 digit) and examined clinical information (sex, age, education years, onset age, duration of illness, chlorpromazine-equivalent dose, and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) scores) in 126 schizophrenia patients in Japanese population. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of clinical factors. Results. Age, chlorpromazine-equivalent dose, and PANSS-negative symptom score were associated with mean d' score in patients. These three clinical factors explained about 28% of the variance in mean d' score. Conclusions. As conclusion, CPT-IP score in schizophrenia patients is influenced by age, chlorpromazine-equivalent dose and PANSS negative symptom score.