title: The International Society for Bipolar Disorders-Battery for Assessment of Neurocognition (ISBD-BANC).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although cognitive impairment is recognized as an important clinical feature of bipolar disorder, there is no standard cognitive battery that has been developed for use in bipolar disorder research. The aims of this paper were to identify the cognitive measures from the literature that show the greatest magnitude of impairment in bipolar disorder, to use this information to determine whether the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), developed for use in schizophrenia, might be suitable for bipolar disorder research, and to propose a preliminary battery of cognitive tests for use in bipolar disorder research.
  
  
  METHODS
  The project was conducted under the auspices of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and involved a committee that comprised researchers with international expertise in the cognitive aspects of bipolar disorder. In order to identify cognitive tasks that show the largest magnitude of impairment in bipolar disorder, we reviewed the literature on studies assessing cognitive functioning (including social cognition) in bipolar disorder. We further provided a brief review of the cognitive overlap between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and evaluated the degree to which tasks included in the MCCB (or other identified tasks) might be suitable for use in bipolar disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on evidence that cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder are similar in pattern but less severe than in schizophrenia, it was judged that most subtests comprising the MCCB appear appropriate for use in bipolar disorder. In addition to MCCB tests, other specific measures of more complex verbal learning (e.g., the California Verbal Learning Test) or executive function (Stroop Test, Trail Making Test-part B, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) also show substantial impairment in bipolar disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our analysis reveals that the MCCB represents a good starting point for assessing cognitive deficits in research studies of bipolar disorder, but that other tasks including more complex verbal learning measures and tests of executive function should also be considered in assessing cognitive compromise in bipolar disorder. Several promising cognitive tasks that require further study in bipolar disorder are also presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. yatham@interchange.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Lakshmi N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Yatham
authors.forename: Ivan J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Gin S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Malhi
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frangou
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Glahn
authors.forename: Carrie E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Bearden
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Burdick
authors.forename: Anabel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-Arán
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dittmann
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Aysegul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozerdem
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aydemir
authors.forename: K N Roy
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Chengappa
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D032921:Consensus; D056344:Executive Function; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012955:Societies, Medical; D057190:Stroop Test