Rapid Computerized Assessment of Neurocognitive Deficits in Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the clinical usefulness of a computerized neuropsychological battery for identifying neurocognitive deficits in adults with bipolar disorder. Participants were 47 outpatients with bipolar disorder who were individually matched on age, education, sex, and ethnicity to 47 control subjects from the Central Nervous System (CNS) Vital Signs normative database. CNS Vital Signs is comprised of seven common neuropsychological measures, and it generates 15 primary scores that are used to calculate five domain scores (Memory, Psychomotor Speed, Reaction Time, Cognitive Flexibility, and Complex Attention). There was a significant multivariate effect and statistically significantly worse scores for those in the bipolar group on all five domain scores (medium to large effect sizes). When using two or more scores below the fifth percentile as a cutoff for neurocognitive impairment, 42.6% of the bipolar sample and only 6.4% of the control sample scored in this range. A subset of outpatients with bipolar disorder has frank neurocognitive impairments identifiable with this 30–40-minute computerized assessment battery.

Key words:

• assessment
• cognitive impairment
• computerized testing
• neuropsychological

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study was presented at the 62nd annual conference of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, May 18, 2007 in San Diego, CA. The authors thank Drs. C. Thomas Gualtieri and Lynda G. Johnson for providing all the data used in this study. Drs. Gualtieri and Johnson are the two developers of the CNS Vital Signs battery used in this study. Our broader research team has received grant funding from AstraZeneca and the Alcohol Beverage Medical Research Council for research involving this test battery. Drs. Iverson and Brooks have received research funding from the CNS Vital Signs publishing company. This study, however, was unfunded.

Notes

Note. Degrees of freedom for ANOVAs were (1, 92).

Note. Degrees of freedom for ANOVAs were (1, 92). VBM = Verbal memory; VIM = Visual memory; SAT = shifting attention test; CPT = continuous performance test.

Note. ∗The cumulative percentage of each sample with a score at or below the cutoff is presented. C% = cumulative percentage.