Are bipolar II patients cognitively impaired? A systematic review

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with significant neurocognitive deficits and this occurs in individuals with BD type I (BD I) and with BD type II (BD II). Only a few studies have focused on cognitive impairment in BD II. The aim of this study was to describe th...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Solé Cabezuelo, Brisa, Martínez-Arán, Anabel, 1971-, Torrent Font, Carla, Bonnín Roig, Caterina del Mar, Reinares, María, Popovic, Dina, Sánchez-Moreno, José, Vieta i Pascual, Eduard, 1963-
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2011
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Barcelona
Repository:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/52283
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/52283
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Trastorn bipolar
Neuropsicologia
Trastorns de la cognició
Manic-depressive illness
Neuropsychology
Cognition disorders
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: There is evidence that bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with significant neurocognitive deficits and this occurs in individuals with BD type I (BD I) and with BD type II (BD II). Only a few studies have focused on cognitive impairment in BD II. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of cognitive impairment in patients with BD II, in order to identify specific cognitive deficits that distinguish BD II from BD I patients as well as from healthy subjects. METHOD: We performed a systematic review of the literature of neuropsychological studies of BD II published between 1980 and July 2009. Fourteen articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. RESULTS: Main cognitive deficits found in BD II include working memory and some measures of executive functions (inhibitory control) and approximately half of the studies also detected verbal memory impairment. CONCLUSIONS: There are subtle differences between the two subtypes regarding cognition. This may suggest neurobiological differences between the two subgroups which will be helpful in order to determine cognitive endophenotypes in BD subtypes.