To assess differences in cognitive impairment in a group of patients with schizophrenia receiving first-generation long-acting antipsychotics (FG-LAI) versus Aripiprazole long-actinginjectable (ALAI).

A descriptive, cross-sectional, multi-centerstudy.

Study sample: 28 outpatients with stable schizophrenia (18 men and 10 women) with ages ranging from 22 to 64years.

Inclusion criteria were: Clinically stable patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (according to DSM-5 criteria) and without any changes to their antipsychotic or antidepressant therapy in the last six months.

Simple stratified sampling was performed to collect data from patients with schizophrenia receiving FG-LAI (n=14) versus patients with schizophrenia receiving Aripiprazole long-acting injectable (ALAI) (n=14)

Groups were matched by age, gender, years of evolution of the disease, and years on formal education.

Functionality in the different cognitive domains was evaluated based on the Brief Assessment of cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS.), a hetero-applied instrument, which Spanish version has been validated. BACS evaluates the following cognitive domains:

Verbal memory (V.M): Word list test

Working memory (W.M): Digit sequencing task

Motor speed (M.S): Token motor task

Verbal fluency (V.F): Semantic or category fluency

Attention (A): Symbol coding

Executive function (E.F): Tower of London

The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 statistical package Differences between the means of quantitative variables were assessed using the independent-sample Student-t test. Individual test scores were converted into standardized (T and Z) scores and composite scores that were corrected for age and gender.

Informed consent was obtained from all patients according to the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association).

In the group receiving ALAI, the most severely impaired cognitive domain was attention, whereas motor speed was barely affected. In contrast, verbal memory was most impaired, whereas motor speed was the least impaired cognitive domain in the group receiving FG-LAI.

Patients with schizophrenia taking ALAI showed a better cognitive function in all domains (except for motor speed and attention) than patients receiving FG-LAI.

Summarized results in Table1.

In our study, patients with schizophrenia receiving Aripiprazole long-acting injectable have better cognitive function than patients receiving first-generation long-acting antipsychotics.