Cognition as an outcome measure in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND Cognitive deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia. These deficits are not caused by medication or symptoms, and have a dramatic negative effect on real-world functioning. AIMS To critically examine a selection of the most common batteries used to assess cognition in schizophrenia. METHOD Literature review of cognitive assessment batteries for use in schizophrenia. RESULTS A wide variety of neurocognitive test batteries have been developed or adapted to assess cognition in schizophrenia. These differ in time requirements, repeatability, ease of administration, degree of face validity, availability of co-normative data and degree to which results can be parsed into separate domains of cognitive functioning. The most appropriate depends on the setting and the question being addressed. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive outcome measures have reshaped our understanding of schizophrenia and will be essential tools for unravelling the aetiology ofthe disease and designing more effective interventions.