Evidence for continuing neuropsychological impairments in depression.
BACKGROUND
Neuropsychological deficits have been reported in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) during an acute episode of MDD. Little is known whether these abnormalities persist when patients are remitted. The purpose of the present study was to describe the neuropsychological functioning of fully remitted, unmedicated patients with a history of MDD by focusing on tasks related to prefrontal cortex functioning.


METHODS
Twenty-eight young to middle-aged, unmedicated, fully remitted patients with MDD were compared to 23 healthy control subjects on tasks from the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery (CANTAB) and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT).


RESULTS
Patients with remitted MDD relative to controls were impaired on tasks of rapid visual information processing (RVIP), psychomotor performance and spatial working memory (SWM). After correction for residual depressive symptoms, deficits in sustained attention remained significant.


CONCLUSIONS
CANTAB tasks are not equated for difficulty, and difficulty differences between the CANTAB tasks and the CVLT are not known.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest deficits in sustained attention as vulnerability marker for MDD. The functional importance of this finding and the neuronal networks involved remain to be elucidated.
Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, North Drive, Building 15K, Room 200, Bethesda, MD 20892-2670, USA.
Petra
P
Weiland-Fiedler
Kristine
K
Erickson
Tracy
T
Waldeck
David A
DA
Luckenbaugh
Daniel
D
Pike
Omer
O
Bonne
Dennis S
DS
Charney
Alexander
A
Neumeister
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous