Abstract
BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) patients exhibit cognitive impairments during euthymic states. Studies suggest that manic episodes may be correlated to cognitive impairments. The present study investigated the relationship between predominant polarity and the cognitive deficits frequently detected in bipolar patients. We hypothesize that mania predominant polarity (MPP) patients should exhibit greater cognitive impairments in comparison to depressive (DPP) and indefinite predominant polarity (IPP) patients and healthy control (HC) individuals.MethodsThe study evaluated 55 euthymic BD patients, type I and II, and 31 HCs. Patients were divided into 3 groups: MPP (n = 17), DPP (n = 22), and IPP (n = 16), and compared regarding demographic and clinical variables, and performance on a 7-test neuropsychological battery.ResultsMPP patients demonstrated greater cognitive impairments in alternating attention, verbal fluency, and delayed memory in comparison to DPP, IPP, and HC. Compared to HC, IPP patients exhibit cognitive deficits in verbal fluency and alternating attention and DPP patients solely in verbal fluency. Furthermore, DPP patients did not exhibit, in none of the seven neuropsychological tests, significant poorer performances than MPP or IPP patients, although having significant more episodes than MPP patients.ConclusionMPP patients exhibit increased cognitive impairments in comparison to DPP, IPP, and HC subjects. Manic episodes may play an important role in the development of cognitive deficits and thus, in potential neuroprogression. Predominant polarity may be an important specifier for predicting future cognitive impairments.
Highlights
Bipolar disorder (BD) patients exhibit cognitive impairments during euthymic states
The clinical group consisted of 55 patients (64% of the total sample) divided into 3 groups: (1) 17 mania predominant polarity (MPP) patients; (2) 22 depressive predominant polarity (DPP) patients; and (3) 16 indefinite predominant polarity (IPP) patients
A one-way between subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) (Table 1), comparing the effects of predominant polarity on demographic variables and clinical variables, revealed significant results for number of manic [F(3,73) = 12.642, p < 0.001] and depressive [F(3,66) = 20.353, p < 0.001] episodes, which was expected due to the method patients were assigned to groups, and total number of episodes, with DPP presenting more past episodes than the other groups [F(2,52) = 9.955, p < 0.001]
Summary
Bipolar disorder (BD) patients exhibit cognitive impairments during euthymic states. Studies suggest that manic episodes may be correlated to cognitive impairments. The present study investigated the relationship between predominant polarity and the cognitive deficits frequently detected in bipolar patients. We hypothesize that mania predominant polarity (MPP) patients should exhibit greater cognitive impairments in comparison to depressive (DPP) and indefinite predominant polarity (IPP) patients and healthy control (HC) individuals. Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic and recurrent psychiatric disease affecting approximately 2.4% of the population worldwide (Merikangas et al 2011). The majority of studies utilizing the PP specifier considers a simple definition in which the patient must demonstrate a greater number of episodes, throughout the course of the disease, of a specific polarity (Carvalho et al 2014). The PP specifier consists of three distinct categories: (1) mania predominant polarity (MPP); (2) depressed predominant
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
