ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the characteristics of the social cognition in patients with high/low functioning early onset schizophrenia (HF-EOS).Methods:Eighty-four 13-18 years old patients with early onset schizophrenia and 45 gender-,age-,and level of education-matched healthy controls (HC) were selected.The diagnosis was made according to the criteria of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Prob lem,Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for schizophrenia.All patients were divided into HF-EOS group (total score ＞ 7,n =41) and LF-EOS group (total score ＜ 4,n =43)in the three aspects total score of social attainment,social compe tence and functional capacity.All patients were assessed with the Eye Basic Emotion Discrimination Task,Reading the Mind in the eyes,Yoni task and Faux Pas Recognition task.Results:Compared with healthy controls,LF-EOS patients performed poorer on Reading the Mind in the eyes task [(17 ± 4) vs.(9 ± 3.0),P ＜ 0.05],second-order cognitive condition of the Yoni task [(71 ± 18) vs.(83 ± 13),P ＜ 0.01] and Recognizing Faux pas [(8 ± 2) vs.(9 ± 2),P ＜0.05].HF-EOS and LF-EOS patients performed worse than the controls on second-order affective condition of the Yoni task [(80 ± 14),(75 ± 15) vs.(86.5 ± 10.0),P ＜ 0.01] and understanding paux pas [(17 ± 5),(14 ± 5) vs.(21 ± 6),P ＜ 0.01].Conclusion:It suggests that HF-EOS have preserved social perceptual abilities compared to LF-EOS patients.HF-EOS patients and LF-EOS patients both have impaired theory of mind compared to controls.