Relationship between prospective memory and temperament in patients with euthymic bipolar disorder

Abstract

Objective To investigate the event-based prospective memory(EBPM) and time-based prospective memory(TBPM) in patients with euthymic bipolar disorder and to explore the relationships between prospective memory and temperament. Methods Fifty patients with euthymic bipolar disorder(case group) and forty-five demographic characteristic matched healthy controls(control group) were recruited.The neuropsychological battery of tests including EBPM and TBPM tasks were used to measured the prospective memory, and all participants completed the Chinese version of short temperament evaluation of the memphis(TEMPS-A). The differences in prospective memory and temperament between the case group and control group were compared by t test.Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between prospective memory and temperament. Results A statistically significant in EBPM was observed between patients with euthymic bipolar disorder and health controls ((3.66±0.69) vs (4.18±0.83), t=-3.313, P<0.01) and the same result was showed in TBPM ((3.06±0.96) vs (3.89±0.75), t=-4.674, P<0.01). The total score of TEMPS-A ((18.82±4.49) vs (9.69±3.37), t=11.106, P<0.01) and the scores of all the subscales were higher in case group than those in control group.The negative correlation was showed between the scores of depression temperament and TBPM (r=-0.425, P=0.002) in the case group. Conclusion The results suggest both EBPM and TBPM have impaired, and TBPM correlates with depression temperament moderately in the patients with euthymic bipolar disorder. Key words: Bipolar disorder; Prospective memory; Temperament