To find out the language disorders in a sample of schizophrenic female patients. Also to explore the relationship between female sex hormone estradiol and language disorders in schizophrenic patients.

Schizophrenic females show language disorders as a part of their overall cognitive impairment. The female sex hormone, estrogen, acts as a neuro- active hormone that is assumed to have effects on the central nervous system and specifically on the cognitive functions.

This case-control study included 30 schizophrenic female patients who were admitted in Al Abasseia Psychiatric Hospital. It also included 15 healthy controls that were matched in age and education. They were assessed using: Psychiatric interviews, The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Serum estradiol level on 3 consecutive weeks and language and speech items of The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB). General and neurological examinations were performed as well.

There were statistically significant differences between both groups in all the clinical scales (receptive and expressive speech, reading and writing) of the LNNB, as well as most of the factor scales covering a wide range of linguistic abilities. High estradiol levels were correlated with poor performance in speech and language scales.

Female schizophrenic patients had menstrual irregularities and hypo-estrogenism. They performed significantly worse on their linguistic abilities, receptive and expressive speech, reading and writing. Increased estrogen levels correlated with poor performance on the linguistic functions, including writing and reading domains in patients with schizophrenia