HOSPITALIZATION AND THE COGNITIVE DEFICITS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE INFLUENCES OF AGE AND EDUCATION

The study investigated the relationship between length of hospitalization and increasing cognitive deficit in schizophrenics. Using Halstead-Reitan Battery data obtained from 245 schizophrenic patients, multiple regression analyses were performed using age, education, and length of hospitalization as independent variables and various summary test indices as dependent variables. These analyses showed that there was not a statistically significant change in percentage of explained variance when length of hospitalization was entered into the multiple regression equations. On the basis of these analyses, it was concluded that the association between increasing deficit and length of hospitalization experienced by schizophrenic patients is no greater than what would be anticipated on the basis of aging.