title: Executive function in parents of patients with familial versus sporadic bipolar disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies investigating the cognitive function of healthy relatives of patients with bipolar disorder are conflicting, and the neurocognitive profile of relatives of bipolar disorder probands is still unclear. We aimed to evaluate executive function in unaffected parents of familial and sporadic patients with bipolar disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 24 unaffected familial parents (FP) of patients with bipolar disorder, 26 unaffected sporadic parents (SP) of patients with bipolar disorder and 26 controls matched with the parents for gender, age and duration of education (76 subjects in total). All of the subjects were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-Axis I. Executive function was assessed using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), the Trail Making Test (TMT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Stroop test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In comparison to their respective matched controls, FP performed significantly worse on the CVLT, TMT, WCST and Stroop test, whereas SP performed significantly worse only on WCST perseverative errors and Stroop color test. FP performed significantly worse than SP on the CVLT, TMT, and WCST.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study investigated relatives with and without a family history of bipolar disorder separately and found that executive function was impaired in parents with a positive family history of bipolar disorder. These findings bring more evidence suggesting that deficits in prefrontal executive function and verbal memory are associated with familial vulnerability to bipolar disorder and that executive function and verbal memory impairments may represent a potential endophenotype of bipolar disorder.
authors.affiliation: Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskisehir, Turkey. Electronic address: ferdikosger@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ferdi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kosger
authors.affiliation: Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Altan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Essizoglu
authors.affiliation: Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baltacioglu
authors.affiliation: Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nuriye
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ulkgun
authors.affiliation: Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cinar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yenilmez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D056344:Executive Function; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*