An observational study of cognitive deficits among patients with various psychiatric disorders

INTRODUCTION-: The utility of cognitive assessment has increasingly come to fore because the diagnostic categories in psychiatry are for the most part syndromal. As a consequence there is wide variation in the degree of disability and handicap within the same diagnostic category. PGI BBD is a validated tool for assessment of cognitive deficits and its utilisation will help in quantification of disability and rehabilitation. METHOD: –The study was conducted at Tertiary care hospital. 200 male inpatients belonging to the 5 diagnostic groups- Alcohol Dependence Syndrome, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorders, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Schizophrenia were included in the study after written informed consent. Analysis was performed by the SPSS version 20.0. Comparison among the five diagnostic groups was done using ANOVA and Tukey Post hoc pair wise comparison. RESULT-: Patients of Alcohol Dependence Syndrome had impairment in remote memory, visual retention and recognition, performance quotient, verbal quotient and percepto motor functioning. Patients of Anxiety Disorder had deficit in attention concentration, verbal memory. Patients of Depressive Disorder had deficit in attention and concentration, immediate and delayed recall, verbal memory, comprehension and percepto motor functioning. Patient of BPAD had deficit in attention and concentration, visual memory. Patients of Schizophrenia had deficit in verbal and visual memory and performance tests. CONCLUSION: Patients in all diagnostic groups had significant impairment of cognitive function even while in remission when they were about to be discharged from hospital. Theses deficit will result in occupational impairment and cognitive retraining is necessary.