title: Effects of mood state on divided attention in patients with bipolar disorder: evidence for beneficial effects of subclinical manic symptoms.
abstract: A relatively small number of studies have been dedicated to the differential effects of the current mood state on cognition in patients with a bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of current mood state on divided attention (DA) performance, and specifically examine possible beneficial effects of the (hypo-) manic state. Over a maximum period of 24 months, medication use, divided attention test (a subtest of the Test for Attentional Performance (TAP)) was assessed every 6 months in 189 outpatients with BD. Data were analyzed with multilevel regression analysis (i.e. linear mixed models). DA performance varied considerable over time within patients. Corrected for psychotropic medication a significant quadratic relationship between manic symptoms and DA performance was found, with mild hypomanic symptoms having a positive influence on divided attention scores and moderate to severe manic symptoms having a negative influence. No association between depressive symptoms and DA performance was found. In future research on mania and cognition as well as in the clinical practice both the beneficial and negative effects of mania should be taken into account.
authors.affiliation: PsyQ The Hague, Department of Mood Disorders, The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: manja.koenders@psyq.nl.
authors.forename: Manja A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Koenders
authors.affiliation: PsyQ The Hague, Department of Mood Disorders, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Annet T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Spijker
authors.affiliation: PsyQ The Hague, Department of Mood Disorders, The Hague, The Netherlands; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoencamp
authors.affiliation: PsyQ The Hague, Department of Mood Disorders, The Hague, The Netherlands; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Judith P M
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Haffmans
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frans G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Zitman
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Erik J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Giltay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Depression; Executive functioning; Hypomania