Pediatric bipolar disorder: Executive, linguistic, mnemonic, and cognitive efficiency mapping

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Event Related Potentials ERPs and other EEG Based Methods for Extracting Biomarkers of Brain Dysfunction: Examples from Pediatric Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD

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Vanisa Fante Viapiana1,2, Ana Carolina Rost de Borba Galimberti Rodrigues2, Roberta Peters2

  • 1Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, Brazil.

Applied Neuropsychology. Child
|January 26, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Children with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PB) often experience significant verbal fluency, executive function, and working memory deficits. These cognitive challenges are more pronounced in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder type I and when comorbid with ADHD.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PB) presents complex challenges in understanding cognitive development.
  • Neuropsychological assessments are crucial for identifying specific deficits in children with PB.
  • Existing research highlights the need to differentiate cognitive profiles within PB subtypes and comorbidities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify the frequency of neuropsychological deficits in children diagnosed with PB.
  • To compare cognitive performance between Pediatric Bipolar Disorder type I (PB-I) and PB type II/unspecified.
  • To examine cognitive differences in children with PB, with and without ADHD comorbidity, against typically developing controls.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 16 children diagnosed with PB and 40 typically developing children (ages 6-12) underwent neuropsychological assessments.
  • Evaluations focused on verbal fluency, cognitive efficiency, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.
  • Statistical analyses compared performance across clinical groups (PB-I, PB-II/unspecified, PB with/without ADHD) and controls.

Main Results:

  • High rates of deficits were observed in verbal fluency, basic cognitive efficiency, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory, particularly affecting verbal and executive functions.
  • Pediatric Bipolar Disorder type I and comorbid ADHD were associated with poorer neuropsychological outcomes.
  • Children with PB exhibited significantly more cognitive efficiency losses than controls, with the most substantial deficits seen in PB-I and PB with ADHD subgroups.

Conclusions:

  • Neuropsychological assessment reveals widespread cognitive difficulties in children with PB, especially in executive functions and verbal domains.
  • PB-I and comorbid ADHD exacerbate these cognitive impairments, underscoring the heterogeneity of the disorder.
  • Multidomain and advanced statistical analyses of neuropsychological data are essential for understanding the clinical and cognitive variability in PB.

Keywords:
Childrenexecutive functionsneuropsychological assessmentpediatric bipolar disorder

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