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Association of cigarette smoking with cognitive impairment in male patients with chronic schizophrenia

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Abstract

Background

Previous studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia have higher smoking rates and worse cognitive function than healthy controls. However, there is no consistent conclusion about the relationship between smoking and cognitive impairment.

Objectives

The main purpose of this study was to explore the effects of smoking on cognitive function by using MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery (MCCB) in Chinese male patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

There were 164 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 82 healthy controls. All subjects were interviewed about smoking status. The cognitive function was assessed by MCCB and Stroop tests. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess the clinical symptoms of the patients.

Results

Compared with healthy controls, patients had lower MCCB scores in all of its domain scores (all p < 0.05). In the patients, the scores of spatial span test (42.3 ± 11.6), digital sequence test (42.9 ± 10.6), and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (42.2 ± 10.1) were lower in smokers than those in nonsmokers (all p < 0.05, effect size: 0.28–0.45). Logistic regression analysis showed that the smoking status of the patients was correlated with digital sequence score (p < 0.05, OR = 1.072, 95%CI: 1.013–1.134). Multivariate regression analysis showed that the spatial span total score (β = − 0.26, t = − 2.74, p < 0.001) was associated with the duration of smoking in patients with schizophrenia.

Conclusions

Our findings show that smoking patients with chronic schizophrenia exhibit more severe cognitive impairment than nonsmoking patients, especially in working memory and executive function.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Drs. Yunlong Tan, Wu Fang Zhang, Zhi Ren Wang, Bao Hua Zhang, Ling Yan Qi, and Gui Gang Yang for all of their hard work and significant contributions toward the study.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81371477) and the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program. These sources had no further role in this study design, in the data collection and analysis, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Shuochi Wei, Dongmei Wang, Gaoxia Wei, Jiesi Wang, Huixia Zhou, Hang Xu, Luyao Xia, Yang Tian, Qilong Dai, Rongrong Zhu, Wenjia Wang, Li Wang & Xiang Yang Zhang

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Shuochi Wei, Dongmei Wang, Gaoxia Wei, Jiesi Wang, Huixia Zhou, Hang Xu, Luyao Xia, Yang Tian, Qilong Dai, Rongrong Zhu, Wenjia Wang, Li Wang & Xiang Yang Zhang

  3. Beijing HuiLongGuan Hospital, Beijing, China

    Dachun Chen & Meihong Xiu

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  1. Shuochi Wei
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  2. Dongmei Wang
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  3. Gaoxia Wei
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Correspondence to Xiang Yang Zhang.

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Wei, S., Wang, D., Wei, G. et al. Association of cigarette smoking with cognitive impairment in male patients with chronic schizophrenia. Psychopharmacology 237, 3409–3416 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05621-w

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