Comparison of cognitive function and psychosocial function between remitted bipolar disorder and schizo phrenia

Objective To explore the difference of cognitive function and psychosocial function between remitted bipolar disorder(BPD) and remitted schizophrenia.Methods 8 neuropsychological tests (17 items)which evaluate attention,verbal learning and memory,visual memery and executive function were given to 30 remitted BPD,32 remitted schizophrenia and 34 normal controls.The differences of cognitive functions between the three groups were compared using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).Psychosocial functions of remitted BPD and remitted schizophrenia were both evaluated by Global Assessment Function (GAF),and the difference of Psychosocial functions between the two groups was also tested by MANOVA.Results 1.Remitted schizophrenia showed dysfunction in neuropsychological tests except Stroop C and digit span subtest-forward compared with controis.but Remitted BPD only showed dysfunction in 9 neuropsychological items compared with controls.There was no significantly differences on WCST,digit span subtest-backward,and TMT-B between remitted BPD and remitted schizophrenia,the degree of impairment of the two groups was same.But scores from logical memory sub-test and Stroop CW of remitted schizophrenia were significantly lower than that of remitted BPD( ( 8.13 ± 3.35),( 12.11 ±3.72),(6.00 ±3.09),(9.78 ±3.60);(48.61±15.73),(69.33 ±21.04),P＜0.05).There was significant difference on scores of GAF between remitted BPD and remitted schizophrenia.Conclusion There are some overlap in cognitive impairment in remitted BPD and remitted schizophrenia,but in remitted schizophrenia the cognitive profile is characterized by generalized and severer pattern of deficits.The psychosocial function of remitted BPD is better than that of remitted schizophrenia. Key words: Bipolar disorder;  Cognitive function;  Psychosocial function;  Nueropsychology tests