Association of metabolic syndrome with cognitive impairment in patients with Bipolar Disorder in Clinical Remission

AIM: To evaluate the association of metabolic syndrome and cognitive impairment in patients suffering from Bipolar Disorder, currently in clinical remission. METHODOLOGY: 70 patients suffering from bipolar disorder currently in clinical remission were assessed for metabolic syndrome using the Consensus Criteria given by the International Diabetes Federation and cognitive impairments were assessed by using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (M0CA) Scale. RESULTS: The mean age of the study sample was 43.9 years (SD: 13.1). The mean duration of illness was 16.1 years (SD: 10.1), with mean number of total lifetime episodes being 5.3 (SD: 3.8). The mean number of criteria met for metabolic syndrome was 2.9 (SD: 1.3) with 46 (65.7%) patients satisfying the criteria for metabolic syndrome. The mean score on MoCA was 22.8 (SD: 5.1) with 43 (61.4%) of the patients having mild cognitive impairment, i.e., a score of less than 26. Mild cognitive impairment was significantly associated with raised diastolic blood pressure. Lower score on MoCA had significant correlation with higher waist circumference and higher hip circumference. Additionally, presence of cognitive impairment was associated with higher number of total episodes, early age of onset, and female gender. CONCLUSIONS: Although there is high prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cognitive impairment in patients with Bipolar disorder, there is no significant association between metabolic syndrome and cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment is associated with raised blood pressure, increased waist circumference and hip circumference. Hence, there is a need to regularly monitor the waist circumference, hip circumference and blood pressure in patients with bipolar disorder.