Intellectual deficits have been known as a core feature of bipolar disorder for decades and are hypothesized to be responsible for the unfavorable psychosocial outcome and high unemployment rates....Show moreIntellectual deficits have been known as a core feature of bipolar disorder for decades and are hypothesized to be responsible for the unfavorable psychosocial outcome and high unemployment rates. Those alterations seem to be permanent and are present not only during active- but also during euthymic phases. The focus of this study was on investigating a possible link between mood symptoms, assessed through the clinician-rated questionnaire YMRS and the self-rated QIDS, and the IQ together with cognitive abilities in four different domains. Measured was the performance of 50 recently diagnosed patients participating in the BINCO-study. Furthermore, the focus was on observing differences in scoring between different symptomatic states and the two types of disorder. The impact of confounders, including the intake of antipsychotic medication, benzodiazepines, and the educational level, were considered. While no significant association between depressive symptoms and the subscale-derived IQ could be detected, a quadratic relation was found between manic symptoms and SDIQ score, pointing towards lower scoring in patients with subclinical symptoms and higher performance in patients with mild to moderate symptoms. The QIDS-score significantly impacted the performance in the sub-scale „information”, which provides the verbal comprehension index. The YMRS- score again showed a curvilinear association with the same subtest. The intake of antipsychotic medication seemed to show the greatest confounding effect on the dependent variable. Further research is needed to elucidate the effect of manic symptoms on IQ and verbal comprehension, as well as the role of antipsychotic medication. Also, larger sample sizes would determine the actual impact of each mood phase on the IQ.Show less
