Are negative symptoms in schizophrenia a distinct therapeutic target?

Background and aims: The relationship between negative symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia is not clear, inconsistent findings have been reported by multiple authors and meta analyses. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognition and primary negative symptoms.

Methods: 67 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia were evaluated using PANSS and the NSA-16 scale. Correlation and regression analyses were used in the present study to investigate the relationship between the primary negative symptoms and cognition.

Results: No relationship was found between the PANSS Cognitive factor and Negative factor, but when investigating the relationship of the Cognitive PANSS factor with the negative symptoms evaluated with the NSA-16 scale, it was shown that there is a significant association between cognition and motor retardation.

Conclusions: Our study reveals the relative independence of cognitive factor from the global negative domain of the psychopathology, even though the association with motor retardation was clear. These findings also support the need of using appropriate assessment tools in order to gain a more refined understanding of the phenomenology of schizophrenia.