The social cognitive ability in Han Chinese euthymic patients with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder

Although social cognitive deficits were found in euthymic patients of bipolar disorder (BD), the characteristics of social cognition in Han Chinese euthymic BD patients remain obscure. This study aimed to examine social cognition in Han Chinese euthymic BD patients relative to healthy controls (HC). Moreover, we explore the differences in social cognition between euthymic BD I and BD II patients.

43 Han Chinese BD patients (BD-I:25, BD-II:18) and 28 HC were recruited. All patients were euthymic (Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) ≤ 7 and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) ≤ 7). Social cognitive ability was measured using Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), including 4 branches: perceiving emotions, facilitating emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions. Continuous performance Test (CPT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were used to examine attention and executive function.

Significant difference in understanding emotions branch of MSCEIT was found between BD patients and HCs (Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.005). Besides, BD patients had significantly worse performance in WCST and CPT. However, the differences in WCST, CPT, MSCEIT total scores and its subscales were not significant between BD I and BD II patients.

Euthymic Han Chinese BD patients exhibit significant social cognitive deficits in understanding emotion and cognitive dysfunction in attention and executive function. Furthermore, Han Chinese BD I patients showed similar social cognitive and general cognitive ability as compared with BD II patients. Social cognitive rehabilitation on both euthymic BD I and II patients should be considered.