T41. SEX DIFFERENCES IN VERBAL MEMORY IN FIRST-EPISODE PSYCHOSIS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Abstract

Background: Verbal memory (VM) is one of the most affected cognitive domains in patients with schizophrenia and a robust predictor of functional outcome. There are well-documented sex differences in verbal memory in healthy individuals, which may be particularly pertinent to study in psychosis. For instance, in healthy individuals, women tend to have significantly better verbal memory performance relative to men. Given that male psychosis patients present with an earlier age of onset, more negative symptoms, and have poorer functional outcomes than women, consideration of sex differences may lead to a better understanding of VM impairment in psychosis and its wide-ranging effects on outcome. Studies of first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and those at clinical highrisk for psychosis demonstrate specific impairments in immediate but not delayed recall, suggesting that impaired immediate recall may be a marker for psychosis. Our aims were thus (1) to investigate sex differences in VM ability in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and controls, and (2) to distinguish between sub-domains of memory impairment in FEP in relation to sex differences, by examining both immediate and delayed recall performance. Method(s): 437 FEP patients (301 males, 136 females; age range 14-35) and 138 (96 males, 42 females matched on age, sex, handedness, and socioeconomic status) were included. VM was calculated from the Logical Memory Subscales of the Wechsler Memory Scale (n=324) or a computerized VM task from the CogState Research Battery (n=251). Performance of the matched control group was used as normative data to derive z-scores for VM, as well as for immediate and delayed recall separately. Main effects of sex (males, females) and diagnostic group (patients, controls), as well as group x sex interactions, on VM were examined, covarying for battery version. Result(s): No significant group x sex interactions were found with respect to memory performance, F(1,570)=0.64, p=0.43. Significant main effects of group and sex on VM were observed, where FEP patients performed worse than controls, F(1,570)=75.69, p