Childhood early life adverse events and neurocognitive deficits in first episode psychosis patients

Abstract

Neurocognitive impairments and a history of childhood adversity are highly prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. Childhood adversity has been associated with worse performance in working memory, information processing speed and executive function tasks. The pathophysiological substrate for this association remains unclear, particulary in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine whether self-reported childhood adversity in FEP patients is linked to specific neurocognitive deficits. The potential impact of the cumulative effect of early life adverse events on this association was also examined. A total of 95 patients were recruited from the ongoing epidemiological and longitudinal program of first-episode of psychosis (PAFIP) conducted at the University “Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla”, Spain. Information about early life adverse events was obtained using Childhood Traumatic Events Scale (CTES). Cognitive function was assessed through a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Childhood early life adverse events were significantly associated with reduced scores on Executive Function task (P=0.044). Patients who had experienced the combined effect of early life adverse events performed worse the Executive function (P=0.027) task, even after covarying for gender, age and years of education. Obtained results suggest that childhood trauma has a different effect on cognitive function in first-episode psychosis, and in particular, in those patients with a history of a variety of traumatic events. Nonetheless, the results of this study pose many questions and many issues for the development of neuropsychological models of schizophrenia. Therefore, future studies should clarify the psychological and biological mechanisms behind these subjects' sensitivity or vulnerability to the negative effect of childhood adverse events.