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Emotional intelligence (EI) and neurocognition (NC) impairments are common in first-episode psychosis (FEP), yet their evolution over time remains unclear. This study identified patient profiles in EI and NC performance in FEP. 98 adult FEP patients and 128 healthy controls (HCs) were tested on clinical, functional, EI, and NC variables at baseline and two-year follow-up (FUP). A repeated-measures ANOVA compared the effects of group (patients and HCs) and time on EI. Significant EI improvements were observed in both groups. Four groups were created based on NC and EI performance at baseline and FUP in patients: impairment in NC and EI, impairment in NC only, impairment in EI only, and no impairment. At FUP, patients impaired in NC and EI showed less cognitive reserve (CR), greater negative and positive symptoms, and poorer functional outcomes. At FUP, three group trajectories were identified: (I) maintain dual impairment (II) maintain no impairment or improve, (III) maintain sole impairment or worsen. The maintain dual impairment group had the lowest levels of CR. EI and NC impairments progress differently in FEP. Greater CR may protect against comorbid EI/NC impairment. Identifying these patient characteristics could contribute to the development of personalised interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evolution of cognitive performance throughout the lifespan in bipolar disorder (BD) is understudied. This cross-sectional study aims to describe the cognitive performance across age groups.Methods: A sample of 654 participants was recruited for this study (BD = 432 and healthy controls -HC- =222). Three subgroups, divided according to age range (18 to 35, 36 to 49, and ≥50 years old) were analyzed after administering a comprehensive neuropsychological battery including six cognitive domains. Demographic, clinical, and psychosocial functioning data were also analyzed. Generalized linear models (GLM) with age, diagnostic group, and age × group as main effects were carried out to examine their potential association on cognitive domains. Subsequently, a GLM in the BD sample was conducted to analyze interactions of several clinical variables by age on each cognitive domain.Results: Main effects of diagnostic group and age were found in all cognitive domains. Significant group × age effect interaction was found for attention domain (p = 0.02) demonstrating a worse cognitive evolution across age in BD, driven by older age, but not in HC. Significant interaction effects of higher number of manic episodes and older age were also found in attention and verbal memory. Older age was also associated with a longer duration of illness, higher number of episodes, more somatic comorbidities, and poorer psychosocial functioning.Conclusions: These results suggest that older age was associated with a selective cognitive decline in BD in the attentional domain. These findings highlight the importance of developing interventions targeting cognitive dysfunction throughout the BD adulthood lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive profiles of BD patients show a demonstrated heterogeneity among young and middle-aged patients, but this issue has not yet deeply explored in Older Adults with bipolar disorder (OABD). The aim of the present study was to analyze cognitive variability in a sample of OABD.Methods: A total of 138 OABD patients and 73 healthy controls were included in this study. A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment was administered. We performed a k-means cluster analysis method based on the neurocognitive performance to detect heterogeneous subgroups. Demographic, clinical, cognitive and functional variables were compared. Finally, univariate logistic regressions were conducted to detect variables associated with the severity of the cognitive impairment.Results: We identified three distinct clusters based on the severity of cognitive impairment: (1) a preserved group (n = 58; 42%) with similar cognitive performance to HC, (2) a group showing mild cognitive deficits in all cognitive domains (n = 64; 46%) and, finally, (3) a group exhibiting severe cognitive impairment (n = 16; 12%). Older age, late onset, higher number of psychiatric admissions and lower psychosocial functioning were associated with the greatest cognitive impairment. Lower age, more years of education and higher estimated IQ were associated with a preserve cognitive functioning.Limitations: The small sample size of the severely impaired group.Conclusions: Cognitive heterogeneity remains at late-life bipolar disorder. Demographic and specific illness factors are related to cognitive dysfunction. Detecting distinct cognitive subgroups may have significant clinical implications for tailoring specific intervention strategies adapted to the level of the impairment and also to prevent cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sex differences influence the clinical characteristics and course of illness of bipolar disorder (BD).Objective: Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the role of sex differences in neurocognitive performance and psychosocial functioning in a large sample of euthymic patients suffering from BD.Methods: The sample included 462 individuals, 347 patients with BD (148 males and 199 females) and 115 healthy controls (HC) (45 males and 70 females). Performance on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery assessing six cognitive domains and psychosocial functioning was compared between groups using linear mixed models, with sex and group as main effects, group by sex interactions and center as a random effect.Results: Males performed better than females in working memory (p < 0.001), whereas females outperformed males in the verbal learning (p = 0.03) and memory recognition (p = 0.03) tasks. No significant group by sex interactions were detected in cognitive performance. There were no overall sex differences or group by sex interactions in psychosocial functioning.Limitations: Lack of assessment of visuo-spatial working memory.Conclusions: There were no overall sex differences in neurocognition and psychosocial functioning. However, small sex differences in some measures of working memory and verbal memory were found. Individual differences of each patient, including sex perspective, should be considered in order to perform a tailored intervention plan adjusted to specific needs in the context of personalized treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]