Introduction: For the past few years, in the field of psychiatric disorders, measurements of subjective quality of life are integrated as an important criterion of judgment. The use of standardized questionnaires, based on the patients point of view has become widespread. However, in schizophrenic patients, cognitive impairement, and notably memory, is often advanced as a limit to the use of the self-reported questionnaires.
Methods: In this preliminary study, we investigated in 53 schizophrenic patients, the impact of memory impairment, specifically the episodic memory, on quality of life, taking into account confounding socio-demographic and clinical factors. The memory was assessed using the BEM 84. The patient's subjective quality of life was assessed by the self-reported questionnaire S-QoL.
Results: No correlation was found between memory efficiency and quality of life level: patients with severe and non-severe impairment scored all the S-QoL domains similarly.
Discussion: However, the majority of schizophrenic patients could be considered as deficient on a wide assortment of neuropsychological evaluations, in particular in the attention and executive functions. The influence of the whole cognitive impairment of life must be confirmed.