title: Neurocognitive impairment and psychosocial functioning in bipolar II disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a growing body of evidence on neurocognitive impairment in euthymic bipolar patients, but this issue has been studied mostly in bipolar I disorder, data on bipolar II (BD-II) are scant and discrepant. The two aims of this study were to ascertain whether strictly defined euthymic BD-II patients would present neurocognitive disturbances and to evaluate their impact on functional outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-three BD-II patients and 42 demographically and educationally matched healthy subjects were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and with the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS). The euthymia criteria were reduced (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score ≤6 and a Young Mania Rating Scale score ≤6) to minimize the influence of subdepressive symptomatology on cognition and functioning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BD-II patients showed a significantly lower performance on several measures of attention, learning and verbal memory, and executive function compared with healthy controls. The presence of subthreshold depressive symptomatology and one measure related to executive function (Trail Making Test, part B) was the variables that best predicted psychosocial functioning measured with the SOFAS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report provides further evidence that euthymic BD-II patients present cognitive impairment which may impact psychosocial functioning.
authors.affiliation: Bipolar Disorders Program, Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Solé
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bonnin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torrent
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balanzá-Martínez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabarés-Seisdedos
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Popovic
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-Arán
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vieta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D012919:Social Behavior; D014145:Trail Making Test; D014706:Verbal Learning