Chronic Peripheral Inflammation is Associated With Cognitive Impairment ă in Schizophrenia: Results From the Multicentric FACE-SZ Dataset

Objectives: Inflammation, measured by abnormal blood C-reactive protein ă (CRP) level, has been described in schizophrenia (SZ), being ă inconsistently related to impaired cognitive functions. The aim of the ă present study is to investigate cognitive impairment associated with ă abnormal CRP levels in a large multi-centric sample of ă community-dwelling SZ patients, using a comprehensive neuropsychological ă battery. Method: Three hundred sixty-nine community-dwelling stable SZ ă subjects (76.2% men, mean age 32.7 y) were included and tested with a ă comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Abnormal CRP level ă was defined as >3 mg/L. Results: Multiple factor analysis revealed that ă abnormal CRP levels, found in 104 patients (28.2%), were associated ă with impaired General Intellectual Ability and Abstract Reasoning (aOR = ă 0.56, 95% CI 0.35-0.90, P = .014), independently of age, sex, education ă level, psychotic symptomatology, treatments, and addiction ă comorbidities. Abnormal CRP levels were also associated with the decline ă of all components of working memory (respectively effect size [ ES] = ă 0.25, P = .033; ES = 0.27, P = .04; ES = 0.33, P = .006; and ES = 0.38, ă P = .004) and a wide range of other impaired cognitive functions, ă including memory (ES = 0.26, P = .026), learning abilities (ES = 0.28, P ă = .035), semantic memory (ES = 0.26, P = .026), mental flexibility (ES = ă 0.26, P = .044), visual attention (ES = 0.23, P = .004) and speed of ă processing (ES = 0.23, P = .043). Conclusion: Our results suggest that ă abnormal CRP level is associated with cognitive impairment in SZ. ă Evaluating the effectiveness of neuroprotective anti-inflammatory ă strategies is needed in order to prevent cognitive impairment in SZ.