Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb;218(2):80-87.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.2019.180.

Longitudinal relationships between cognition and functioning over 2 years in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder: a cross-lagged panel model approach with the FACE-BD cohort

Mickael Ehrminger  1 , Eric Brunet-Gouet  2 , Anne-Sophie Cannavo  3 , Bruno Aouizerate  4 , Irena Cussac  5 , Jean-Michel Azorin  6 , Frank Bellivier  7 , Thierry Bougerol  8 , Philippe Courtet  9 , Caroline Dubertret  10 , Bruno Etain  11 , Jean-Pierre Kahn  12 , Marion Leboyer  13 , Emilie Olié  14 ; FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise in Bipolar Disorders (FACE-BD) Collaborators; Christine Passerieux  2 , Paul Roux  2
Affiliations

Longitudinal relationships between cognition and functioning over 2 years in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder: a cross-lagged panel model approach with the FACE-BD cohort

Mickael Ehrminger et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Longitudinal studies of the relationship between cognition and functioning in bipolar disorder are scarce, although cognition is thought to be a key determinant of functioning. The causal structure between cognition and psychosocial functioning in bipolar disorder is unknown.

Aims: We sought to examine the direction of causality between cognitive performance and functional outcome over 2 years in a large cohort of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder.

Method: The sample consisted of 272 adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder who were euthymic at baseline, 12 and 24 months. All participants were recruited via the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise in Bipolar Disorders. We used a battery of tests, assessing six domains of cognition at baseline and 24 months. Residual depressive symptoms and psychosocial functioning were measured at baseline and 12 and 24 months. The possible causal structure between cognition and psychosocial functioning was investigated with cross-lagged panel models with residual depressive symptoms as a covariate.

Results: The analyses support a causal model in which cognition moderately predicts and is causally primary to functional outcome 1 year later, whereas psychosocial functioning does not predict later cognitive performance. Subthreshold depressive symptoms concurrently affected functioning at each time of measure.

Conclusions: Our results are compatible with an upward causal effect of cognition on functional outcome in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder. Neuropsychological assessment may help specify individual prognoses. Further studies are warranted to confirm this causal link and evaluate cognitive remediation, before or simultaneously with functional remediation, as an intervention to improve functional outcome.

Keywords: Cognition; bipolar affective disorders; cognitive–behavioural therapies; psychosocial functioning; structural equation modelling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types