Cognitive and clinical profiles in first-episode psychosis and their relationship with functional outcomes.

Background: While cognitive impairment is a core feature of psychosis, significant heterogeneity in cognitive and clinical outcomes is observed.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify cognitive and clinical subgroups in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and determine if these profiles were linked to functional outcomes over time.

Methods: A total of 323 individuals with FEP were included. Two-step hierarchical and k-means cluster analyses were performed using baseline cognitive and clinical variables. General linear mixed models were used to investigate whether baseline cognitive and clinical clusters were associated with functioning at follow-up time points (6-9, 12 and 15 months).

Results: Three distinct cognitive clusters were identified: a cognitively intact group (N = 59), a moderately impaired group (N = 77) and a more severely impaired group (N = 122). Three distinct clinical clusters were identified: a subgroup characterised by predominant mood symptoms (N = 76), a subgroup characterised by predominant negative symptoms (N = 19) and a subgroup characterised by overall mild symptom severity (N = 94). The subgroup with more severely impaired cognition also had more severe negative symptoms at baseline. Cognitive clusters were significantly associated with later social and occupational function, and associated with changes over time. Clinical clusters were associated with later social functioning but not occupational functioning, and were not associated with changes over time.

Conclusions: Baseline cognitive impairments are predictive of both later social and occupational function and change over time. This suggests that cognitive profiles offer valuable information in terms of prognosis and treatment needs.