title: Abdominal obesity is associated with impaired cognitive function in euthymic bipolar individuals.
abstract: Overweight/obesity has been implicated to play a role in cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder (BD). This study aims to identify the relationship between body fat distribution and different domains of cognition in BD during euthymia.
  
  
  
  A sample of 100 euthymic individuals with BD was measured with a cognitive test battery (i.e., Trail Making Test-A-B/TM-A/B, d2 Test of Attention, Stroop test, California Verbal Learning Test/CVLT) and an anthropometric measures set (body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-hip-ratio, waist-to-height-ratio, and lipometry). Patient data were compared with a healthy control group (n = 64).
  
  
  
  Results show that overweight patients with BD exhibit lower performance in the TMT-A/B as well as in the free recall performance of the CVLT compared to normal-weight patients with BD and controls. In bipolar individuals, (abdominal) obesity was significantly associated with a poor cognitive performance. In bipolar females, associations with measures of verbal learning and memory were found; in bipolar males, associations with poor performance in the TMT-A/B and in the Stroop interference task were demonstrated. In controls, no associations were found.
  
  
  
  There are several possible pathways moderating the association between obesity and cognition in BD. Anthropometric and lipometry data underline the substantial mediating impact of body fat distribution on cognition in BD.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lackner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bengesser
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Birner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Painold
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Fellendorf
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Platzer
authors.affiliation: b Therapiezentrum Justuspark, Versicherungsanstalt öffentlich Bediensteter , Austria.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reininghaus
authors.affiliation: c Department of Biological Psychology , Karl-Franzens University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: d Research Unit on Lifestyle and Inflammation-associated Risk Biomarkers, Clinical Institute of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.|e BioTechMed-Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mangge
authors.affiliation: f Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University of Toronto , Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: McIntyre
authors.affiliation: g Division of Biological Chemistry, Medical University of Innsbruck , Innsbruck , Austria.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kapfhammer
authors.affiliation: h Department of Pathophysiology and Immunology , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wallner-Liebmann
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Medical University Graz , Graz , Austria.
authors.forename: E Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Reininghaus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001317:Austria; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D050218:Body Fat Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014706:Verbal Learning
keywords: bipolar disorder; body fat distribution; cognition; euthymia; overweight