Clinical usefulness of the screen for cognitive impairment in psychiatry (SCIP-S) scale in patients with type I bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
The relevance of persistent cognitive deficits to the pathogenesis and prognosis of bipolar disorders (BD) is understudied, and its translation into clinical practice has been limited by the absence of brief methods assessing cognitive status in Psychiatry. This investigation assessed the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-S) for the detection of cognitive impairment in BD.


METHODS
After short training, psychiatrists at 40 outpatient clinics administered the SCIP three times over two weeks to a total of 76 consecutive type I BD admissions. Experienced psychologists also administered a comprehensive battery of standard neuropsychological instruments to clinical sample and 45 healthy control subjects.


RESULTS
Feasibility was supported by a brief administration time (approximately 15 minutes) and minimal scoring errors. The reliability of the SCIP was confirmed by good equivalence of forms, acceptable stability (ICC range 0.59 to 0.87) and adequate internal consistency (Chronbach's alpha of 0.74). Construct validity was granted by extraction of a single factor (accounting 52% of the variance), acceptable correlations with conventional neuropsychological instruments, and a clear differentiation between bipolar I and normal samples. Efficiency was also provided by the adequate sensitivity and specificity.


CONCLUSIONS
The sample size is not very large. The SCIP and the neurocognitive battery do not cover all potentially relevant cognitive domains. Also, sensitivity to change remains unexplored.


CONCLUSIONS
With minimal training, physicians obtained a reliable and valid estimate of cognitive impairment in approximately 15 minutes from an application of the SCIP to type I BD patients.
Guilera
Georgina
G
Department of Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. gguilera@ub.edu
Pino
Oscar
O
Gómez-Benito
Juana
J
Rojo
J Emilio
JE
Vieta
Eduard
E
Tabarés-Seisdedos
Rafael
R
Segarra
Nuria
N
Martínez-Arán
Anabel
A
Franco
Manuel
M
Cuesta
Manuel J
MJ
Crespo-Facorro
Benedicto
B
Bernardo
Miguel
M
Purdon
Scot E
SE
Díez
Teresa
T
Rejas
Javier
J