Association Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cognitive Impairment in People With Schizophrenia

Importance

Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors, including metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its constituent criteria. Cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors can worsen cognition in the general population and may contribute to cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

Objective

To study the association between cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment in individuals with schizophrenia.

Data Sources

A search was conducted of Embase, Scopus, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Cochrane databases from inception to February 25, 2020, using terms that included synonyms of schizophrenia AND metabolic adversities AND cognitive function. Conference proceedings, clinical trial registries, and reference lists of relevant publications were also searched.

Study Selection

Studies were included that (1) examined cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder; (2) investigated the association of cardiovascular disease risk factors, including MetS, diabetes, obesity, overweight, obesity or overweight, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance with outcomes; and (3) compared cognitive performance of patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder between those with vs without cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Extraction of data was conducted by 2 to 3 independent reviewers per article. Data were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was global cognition, defined as a test score using clinically validated measures of overall cognitive functioning.

Results

Twenty-seven studies involving 10 174 individuals with schizophrenia were included. Significantly greater global cognitive deficits were present in patients with schizophrenia who had MetS (13 studies; n = 2800; effect size [ES] = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.13-0.50;P = .001), diabetes (8 studies; n = 2976; ES = 0.32; 95% CI, 0.23-0.42;P < .001), or hypertension (5 studies; n = 1899; ES = 0.21; 95% CI, 0.11-0.31;P < .001); nonsignificantly greater deficits were present in patients with obesity (8 studies; n = 2779;P = .20), overweight (8 studies; n = 2825;P = .41), and insulin resistance (1 study; n = 193;P = .18). Worse performance in specific cognitive domains was associated with cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors regarding 5 domains in patients with diabetes (ES range, 0.23 [95% CI, 0.12-0.33] to 0.40 [95% CI, 0.20-0.61]) and 4 domains with MetS (ES range, 0.15 [95% CI, 0.03-0.28] to 0.40 [95% CI, 0.20-0.61]) and hypertension (ES range, 0.15 [95% CI, 0.04-0.26] to 0.27 [95% CI, 0.15-0.39]).

Conclusions and Relevance

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, MetS, diabetes, and hypertension were significantly associated with global cognitive impairment in people with schizophrenia.