Authors: Mahlberg, Richard¹; Adli, Mazda²; Bschor, Tom³; Kienast, Thorsten²

Source: International Journal of Neuroscience, Volume 118, Number 9, December 2008 , pp. 1347-1356(10)

Publisher: Informa Healthcare

Abstract:

Impairment of executive functions and attention has been found in patients with acute depressive episodes but has rarely been investigated in manic patients to date. At the same time, executive functions decline with age. Thus, it is currently a matter of debate how to best measure decreased executive performance in elderly patients with affective disorders. In our study, we examined 30 depressed patients, 28 manic patients, and 30 healthy subjects of all age groups, using the Trail Making Test (TMT). Both depressed and manic patients needed twice as long as healthy subjects to perform the TMT Part A. In addition to this reduced performance due to affective disorders, we were also able to detect a decline in performance due to age. One could thus postulate that age and affective disorders each influence a different neuropsychological function, age affecting executive performance and affective disorders affecting attention, as measured in both cases by the TMT.

Keywords: Affective disorder; Trail Making Test; neuropsychology; age; depression; mania

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207450601059452

Affiliations: 1: 1Institute of Psychogerontology Friedrich-Alexander-Universitäät, Erlangen-Nüürnberg, Germany 2: 3Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charitéé Campus Mitte, Charitéé——Universitäätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany 3: 4Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Jewish Hospital of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Publication date: 2008-12-01

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