Cognitive and adaptive functioning deficits in non-geriatric schizophrenic nursing home patients at acute hospitalization

For the past few decades the deinstitutionalization process has resulted in loss of long-term psychiatric hospital beds. Chronically ill schizophrenia patients have been placed in nursing homes with increasing frequency, although such placements were traditionally for geriatric mentally ill patients. In addition, cognitive deficits, a hallmark feature of schizophrenia, has been shown to be related to impairment in adaptive and social functioning. No study to date has examined cognitive and adaptive functioning in non-geriatric schizophrenic patients placed in nursing homes relative to their geriatric counterparts.;The present study investigated clinical, cognitive, adaptive functioning, social skills, and social and adaptive behavior in both geriatric and non-geriatric schizophrenia patients (N=50) residing in nursing homes who were presenting for acute hospital treatment. All participants were recruited from an inpatient psychiatric unit and were administered a neurocognitive battery, rated for symptomology and inpatient social and adaptive behavior, and assessed for level adaptive function and social skills.;Using multiple regression models, results suggested that clinical, cognitive, adaptive and social skill functioning impairments were independent of patients' current age. Rather, the patients' age of admission to the nursing home, independent of current age, significantly predicted cognitive and adaptive functioning. These results suggest that non-geriatric schizophrenic nursing home patients are as impaired in multiple domains of assessment as their geriatric counterparts. Additionally, these results suggest that cognitive and adaptive functioning deficits remain relatively stable over time, though it is noted that the data were cross-sectional, not longitudinal.