Processing speed and executive functions predict real-world everyday living skills in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia

Cognition and clinical variables are known to be among the most predictive factors of real-world social functioning and daily
living skills in adult-onset schizophrenia. Fewer studies have focused on their impact in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia
(EOS). The aim of this study is to examine the relationships and the predictive value of cognition and clinical variables
on real-world daily living skills in a sample of adolescents with EOS. Cognitive, clinical and real-world everyday living
skills measures were administered to 45 clinically and pharmacologically stabilized adolescent outpatients with EOS and 45
healthy control subjects matched by age and sex. Multi-variant analyses to compare cognitive and real-world functioning profiles
between patients and controls and regression analysis to identify predictors of real-world functioning scores in patients
were used. Adolescents with EOS showed a generalized cognitive and real-world daily living skills dysfunction. Several cognitive
and clinical variables significantly correlated with real-world daily living skills functioning but only the processing speed
and executive functions emerged as independent predictors of everyday living skills scores, explaining 25.1% of the variance.
Slowness in processing information and executive dysfunction showed a significant impact on real-world daily living skills
in EOS, independently from clinical symptoms and other cognitive variables. Nevertheless, much of the variance in the daily
living skills measure remained unaccounted for, suggesting that other factors were involved as well in this young population.