A Review of Pharmacological Strategy for Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia

Cognitive deficit is frequently observed in patients with schizophrenia. It is significantly associated with functional outcome. In the past 20 years, due to significant advances on the concept of schizophrenia, cognitive deficit has been accepted as a core fea - ture. In the DSM-5, cognitive deficit does not introduce diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia, but did one dimension of diagnosis of psychosis. Existing schizophrenia drugs are effective in treatment of positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but lack of effectiveness on improving cognitive function. Led by NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), the MATRICS (Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia) meeting was conducted in order to achieve consensus on measuring tools and neuropharmacological targets for clinical trials for development of new drugs for improvement of cognitive function in schizophre- nia. At the MATRICS consensus meeting, glutamatergic modulators and nicotinic and muscarinic agonists are expected to be prom- ising, but should be proven by a double-blind placebo-controlled multicenter study for patients. (Korean J Schizophr Res 2014;17: 55-62)