Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 225, 1 January 2018, Pages 147-152
Journal of Affective Disorders

Research paper
Cognitive abilities in first-degree relatives of individuals with bipolar disorder

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.029Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Cognitive comparison of bipolar disorder (BD), first-degree bipolar relatives (FDRs) and healthy controls (HC).

  • Only FDRs over the age of 25 were included in the sample.

  • FDRs showed impairment on the verbal learning domain compared to HCs.

  • Impairment noted in FDRs on specific working memory and processing speed measures.

  • FDRS exhibited a trend for enhanced problem-solving compared to HCs.

Abstract

Background

Although the study of cognition in first degree relatives (FDRs) is not new, findings in this group are still somewhat inconsistent and much of the research examining FDR populations include individuals under the age of 25, who are arguably still at significant risk to go on to develop BD. The present study aimed to establish the value of cognitive performance as a genuine endophenotypic marker of familial risk for bipolar disorder (BD), by examining cognition in FDRs aged 25 years or older.

Methods

The current study compared the cognitive performance of 27 unaffected FDRs to 47 healthy controls (HCs) and 28 BD patients using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB).

Results

Results indicated that FDRs had impaired verbal learning performance, as well as selective impairments on a measure of speed of processing; and a measure of spatial working memory compared to HC.

Limitations

Limitations relate to the potential insensitivity of some of the tests in the MCCB for detecting cognitive deficits that have been previously noted in BD and FDR samples using other batteries.

Conclusions

Findings from this study implicate verbal learning, processing speed and working memory performance as promising candidate endophenotypes of familial risk for BD.

Section snippets

Method

This study was approved by the relevant Human Ethics Review Boards and abided by the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant before the study commenced.

Demographics

Table 1 displays the demographic and clinical descriptives for the sample. As expected, the BD group differed significantly from HCs and FDRs on both the MADRS and YMRS. No significant differences were found between groups on age, premorbid IQ or gender distribution.

Cognitive performance

There was a significant omnibus group effect for cognitive performance (Pillai's Trace = .34, F(14, 178) = 2.64, p = .002, η2 = .17), with BD patients showing the greatest impairment overall (M = 31.15, SD = 7.14), and FDRs (M =

Discussion

In the interests of establishing potential endophenotypic markers of BD, the current study explored cognitive abilities in unaffected FDRs of BD patients across a battery of cognitive tasks. FDRs showed significant impairment on the verbal learning domain when compared to HCs, which is partially consistent with previous literature that has indicated that FDRs exhibit cognitive impairment on measures of verbal memory as well as executive function and speed of processing when compared to HCs (

Role of funding source

Australian Rotary Health/Bipolar Expedition, the Helen McPherson Smith Trust and an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (to TVR 1088785).

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Australian Rotary Health/Bipolar Expedition, the Helen McPherson Smith Trust and the NHMRC. We also thank Mr Michael Reynolds for his assistance with data collection.

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