Declarative memory in unaffected adult relatives of patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite evidence for diverse neuropsychological impairment in schizophrenia, verbal declarative memory has emerged as a core deficit in the disorder. Similar but less marked impairments have been demonstrated in unaffected biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia, but the nature and extent of the memory impairment in relatives compared to controls is unclear. We have conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature investigating declarative memory in unaffected biological relatives of schizophrenics and controls, with the aim of quantifying memory deficits in relatives. The standardised mean difference between groups was calculated for nine measures of declarative memory and two measures of intellectual ability, based on 21 studies of several hundred relatives of schizophrenics and controls. Unaffected relatives showed poorer performance relative to controls on all tests of memory examined. Small to moderate effect sizes, with overlapping 95% confidence intervals, were greatest on immediate (trial 1) list recall (0.65), followed by immediate (0.53) and delayed story recall (0.52). Verbal and general IQ showed smaller standardised mean differences as the latter tests, while the smallest standardised mean difference was shown on delayed visual recall (0.32). Results suggest greater deficits on tests of increasing memory load or which place demands on effective encoding processes but more studies with these tasks are needed. Investigation of sub-groups within these cohorts (e.g. age groups within or beyond the maximum age of risk) is recommended in order to identify deficits specific to the disease process.