OBJECTIVES: Schizophrenia is often associated with cognitive deficits (CD). This covers diverse domains such as learning, memory and language. Cognitive skills are well-known predictors of social functioning, and knowledge of outcomes associated to CD is necessary to develop effective treatment strategies. The purpose of this study is to describe the schizophrenic population with CD. METHODS: We worked on data from the EuroSC cohort (N=288 in France, N=618 in Germany and N=302 in UK). Definition of CD was based on the cognition subscore of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Patients with a score lower than the median of the overall set were identified at baseline. As five assessments were performed over 2 years, pathways of patients with CD were explored. Bivariate analyses were conducted to compare patients with CD to others in terms of quality of life, functioning, side effects and depression. RESULTS: On the overall set, mean cognition subscore was 9.67 (SD=4.60, Median=8.00) at baseline. Results differed according to countries, with a mean of 12.13 (SD=5.17, Median=11.00) in France, 9.32 (SD=4.17, Median=8.00) in Germany and 8.00 (SD=3.89, Median=7.00) in UK. About 30% of those identified at baseline still had CD at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Patients with CD were found to have more severe symptoms (PANSS 67.7 vs. 42.5 p<0.0001), a lower QoL (EQ-5D index score: 0.71 vs. 0.77 p<0.001), lower functioning (GAF: 45.9 vs. 59.0 p<0.001), more severe side effects (SSES: 0.74 vs. 0.66 p=0.03) and to be more depressed (CDSS: 3.09 vs. 2.55 p=0.001). Results were consistent within countries. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that patients with CD form a stable population overtime with higher clinical burden. Research on the cognitive impairment of schizophrenia is of key importance in schizophrenia, more so even than positive or negative symptoms.