Neurocognitive impairment in drug-free patients with major depressive disorder.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Although neurocognitive impairment has been widely reported in major depressive disorder (MDD), confounding factors, such as the effects of psychotropic medication, have rarely been controlled for.

AIMS:
To examine neurocognitive function in medication-free patients with MDD and healthy controls.

METHOD:
Forty-four patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for MDD, all psychotropic-medication-free for at least 6 weeks, and 44 demographically matched, healthy comparison subjects completed a comprehensive neurocognitive battery.

RESULTS:
Patients with depression were impaired significantly in a range of cognitive domains, including attention and executive function and visuospatial learning and memory, compared with controls. Motor and psychomotor functions were intact. Severity of depression correlated with learning and memory performance, but not executive function.

CONCLUSIONS:
Pronounced neurocognitive impairment was found in this sample of young adult out-patients with MDD. This is not attributable to the confounding effects of psychotropic medication and could therefore provide an objective marker of brain dysfunction in depression.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Porter, Richard J (RJ); Gallagher, Peter (P); Thompson, Jill M (JM); Young, Allan H (AH);

Affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science (Br J Psychiatry), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Mar; vol 182 (issue ) : pp 214-20

Dates: Created 2003/03/03; Completed 2003/04/28; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12611784, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Humans
Linear Models
Male
Mental Recall
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Psychomotor Performance

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.