Neuroanatomical and neuropsychological features of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies reported that the severity of cognitive deficits in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) increases with the duration of illness and postulated that progressive neuronal loss or shrinkage and white matter changes may be at the origin of this phenomenon. To explore this issue, the authors performed a case-control study including detailed neuropsychological and magnetic resonance imaging analyses in 17 euthymic elderly patients with BD and 17 healthy individuals.


METHODS
Neuropsychological evaluation concerned working memory, episodic memory, processing speed, and executive functions. Volumetric estimates of the amygdala, hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex were obtained using both voxel-based and region of interest morphometric methods. Periventricular and deep white matter were assessed semiquantitatively. Differences in cognitive performances and structural data between BD and comparison groups were analyzed using paired t-test or analysis of variance. Wilcoxon test was used in the absence of normal distribution.


RESULTS
Compared with healthy individuals, patients with BD obtained significantly lower performances in processing speed, working memory, and episodic memory but not in executive functions. Morphometric analyses did not show significant volumetric or white matter differences between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results revealed impairment in verbal memory, working memory, and processing speed in euthymic older adults with BD. These cognitive deficits are comparable both in terms of affected functions and size effects to those previously reported in younger cohorts with BD. Both this observation and the absence of structural brain abnormalities in our cohort do not support a progressively evolving neurotoxic effect in BD.
Delaloye
Christophe
C
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland. Christophe.Delaloye@hcuge.ch
de Bilbao
Fabienne
F
Moy
Guenaël
G
Baudois
Sandra
S
Weber
Kerstin
K
Campos
Leticia
L
Canuto
Alessandra
A
Giardini
Umberto
U
von Gunten
Armin
A
Stancu
Raluca Ioana
RI
Scheltens
Philip
P
Lazeyras
François
F
Millet
Philippe
P
Giannakopoulos
Panteleimon
P
Gold
Gabriel
G
D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015984:Causality; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009929:Organ Size; D011930:Reaction Time; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors