Verbal Memory and Working Memory Impairment in Healthy Siblings of Patients with Schizophrenia

This study aimed to investigate the verbal memory and working memory impairment in healthy siblings of patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to compare cognitive deficits in siblings of the patients with schizophrenia and control group. A total of 35 unaffected siblings of patients with schizophrenia were selected from the relatives of the patients referred to Shoosh clinic and 35 matched healthy controls were selected from the staff of the same clinic. This sample was chosen accessible. Then, the subjects completed Verbal Paired Association Test, Logical Memory Test, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, and N-back working memory Test. Data were analyzed by Chi-square, t test, and Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the siblings of the patients with schizophrenia and control group with respect to the cognitive functions (P<0.05). Siblings of the patients with schizophrenia performed low in both verbal and working memory compared to the control group. In this study, our results supported this hypothesis that verbal and working memory impairment could be considered endophenotype of schizophrenia.