Processing speed and clinical features of schizophrenia: comparison between men and women

Evidence about differences in processing speed (PS) performance between men and women with schizophrenia is inconclusive. Moreover, PS deconstruction into its subcomponents has not been compared among sexes. The aim of this study was to compare PS and its subcomponents (i.e., response processing – RP; accuracy – AC; and psychomotor speed - PmS) performance between men and women with schizophrenia and to explore its associations with clinical variables. Fiftysix patients (36 men, 20 women) were recruited. The PS domain tasks from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery were used. Women outperformed men in RP and AC but were slower in PmS. For men, correlations were found between functionality, RP and AC; age of onset was associated with AC; in women, illness duration and symptomatology correlated with AC. Sex-related differences regarding PS performance in schizophrenia resemble those observed in healthy individuals. Remediation strategies should consider sex differences in PS for more accurate interventions.