Sustained Attention and Executive Functioning among Remitted Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder

CONTEXT: Neuro-cognitive functions have not been extensively studied among young bipolar disorder patients. Researchers have found cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder and many have found such deficits even in euthymic states of the disorder but results are still inconclusive. AIM: To study sustained attention and executive functioning in remitted adolescents with bipolar disorder. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Present study was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty adolescents, aged 14-17 years with bipolar disorder, were selected for the study. Subjects were euthymic for at least 2 months. The performance of patients was matched with normal controls. Sustained attention was primarily measured by Letter Cancellation Test (LCT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Trail Making Test (TMT) and Stroop Colour Word Test were used to assess executive functions. Two groups differed significantly on level of education and thus multivariate linear model was used and education was put as a covariate. RESULTS: Results revealed that patients preformed less well than control. Significant poor performance was reported on LCT (omission scores), TMT, Stroop and WCST. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed previous findings stating that cognitive deficits like sustained attention and executive functions continue to be present in adolescent bipolar patients even in euthymic states.