Abstract

The "Test di Intelligenza Breve (TIB - Intelligence Brief Test)" has been used to evaluate schizophrenic patients on the basis of the hypothesis that the patients with early onset of the illness show lower scores than subjects with late onset. The TIB has been administered to 42 healthy subjects, 55 schizophrenics patients with early on-set and 19 patients with late onset of the disease. Early onset sample showed more impaired performance than late onset and control groups demonstrating an influence of the age at onset of the disease on the cognitive function development. Our data show a "continuum" for the deficit of IQ, early onset patients showing more severe impairment than the late onset ones, the latter reporting intermediate performance.