DOI 10.1186/s12991-015-0080-0

Cognitive impairment in manic bipolar patients: important, understated, significant aspects Mădălina Vrabie1,2*, Victor Marinescu2,3, Anca Talaşman3,4, Oana Tăutu3,5, Eduard Drima6,7 and Ioana Micluţia1,8 Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic mood disorder with episodic progress and high relapse rate. Growing evi-dence suggests that individuals with bipolar disorder display cognitive impairment which persists even throughout periods of symptom’s remission. Method: 137 bipolar patients met the inclusion criteria (depressive episode: DSM-IV-TR criteria for major depressive episode, HAMD score ≥17; manic/hypomanic episode: DSM-IV-TR criteria for manic/hypomanic episode, YMRS score ≥12, euthymic: 6 months of remission, HAMD score ≤8, YMRS score ≤6; and mixed: DSM-IV-TR criteria for mixed episode, HAMD score>8 and YMRS score>6) and were therefore enrolled in the study. Patients were free of psychotic symptoms (hallucinations/delusions) at the moment of testing. Control group consisted of 62 healthy subjects with-out history of neurological and/or psychiatric disorder. Cognitive battery has been applied in order to assess verbal memory, working memory, psychomotor speed, verbal fluency, attention and speed of information processing, an