Correlation between C-reactive Protein Levels with Cognitive Function and Body Mass Index in Schizophrenia

AIM: The objectives of the study were to determine the correlation between C-reactive protein (CRP) levels with cognitive function and body mass index (BMI) in a patient with schizophrenia. METHODS: This is a numerical correlative analytic study with a cross-sectional approach by means of nonprobability sampling with consecutive sampling with inclusion and exclusion criteria from August 2019 to November 2019 in the Prof. Dr. M. Ildrem Psychiatric Hospital in Province of North Sumatra after getting approval from the Research Ethics Committee at the Faculty of Medicine, University of North Sumatra. RESULTS: There is a very strong correlation in which Pearson correlation test between the high-sensitivity CRP (HsCRP) value with BMI and the Montreal cognitive assessment Versi Indonesia score in schizophrenic patients with a correlation coefficient value of r = 0.951 and r = –0.743, respectively, with a very strong correlation (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Increased pro-inflammatory activity, especially HsCRP may cause impaired cognitive function in people with schizophrenia.