| Summary: | Objective: The present study aims to assess verbal memory performance in
patients with schizophrenia attending HUSM and determine the relationship
between the patients’ verbal memory performance and their demographic/clinical
factors. Methods: A cross sectional study of 114 patients with schizophrenia
attending HUSM psychiatric services from December 2007 to May 2008 was
conducted. The schizophrenia symptoms as well as verbal memory performance
were assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Malay version of the
Calgary Depression Scale (MVCDS), and the Malay version of the Auditory
Verbal Learning Test (MVAVLT). The relationship between verbal memory
performance and demographic/clinical symptoms was evaluated using Pearson
Correlation. Results: Overall MVAVLT scores in all the trials were lowered in
patients with schizophrenia compared to average healthy controls. There were
significant relationships between occupational status and MVAVLT performance
in Trial A1-A5 Total; between educational level and MVAVLT performance in
Trial A1 and Trial A1-A5 Total and between severities of illness and MVAVLT
performance in all indexes except Trial A1 after controlled for occupation and
educational level. Conclusions: Patient with schizophrenia in HUSM performed
significantly worse than healthy controls in verbal memory with or without
interference. There were significant relationships between MVAVLT performance
and patient’s occupational status, educational level and severity of the illness but
not depressive symptoms
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