Wang W, Zhou Y, Liu R, et al. - The core features in patients with schizophrenia include clinical symptoms and cognitive impairment, both of which significantly influence the prognosis and functional outcome. A link of empathy, as an important social cognition, has been identified with the clinical symptoms in schizophrenia, however, inconsistency remains concerning conclusions on this issue. Researchers herein explored this issue through a large sample of inpatients with chronic schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population. A total of 987 inpatients were assessed for their sociodemographic characteristics, their clinical symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and their self-reported empathy using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Analyses revealed a close correlation of clinical symptoms, especially negative symptoms, with their current empathy in patients with schizophrenia, indicating that the severity of clinical symptoms may be a powerful factor in predicting social cognition such as empathy of schizophrenia.