Dynamic assessment of executive function disorders in patients with recurrent depressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder during psychopharmacotherapy

Introduction. Impairment of cognitive functioning, including executive functions in affective disorders, is a press-ing clinical problem. Objective: to conduct a comparative analysis of executive function disorders in patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD) and bipolar affective disorder (BD) with their clinical and dynamic assessment during psychopharmacotherapy. Materials. At the Affective States Department of Mental Health Research Institute of Tomsk National Research Medical Center, 32 patients (24 women, 8 men) with RDD aged 31 to 54 years and 14 patients (7 men and 7 women) with a current depressive episode within BD aged 20 to 41 years were examined. An-tidepressants with a procognitive effect were used as basic therapy for RDD and BD. Methods. Dynamic assessment of the presence and severity of various aspects of executive function disorders in groups of patients with RDD and bipolar disorder (before treatment and by day 28 of therapy) was performed using psychodiagnostic testing: the Tower of London Test (Shallis T., 1982), a test for verbal and semantic fluency, Schulte tables (Schulte W.) for studying the ability to concentrate as a leading component in the implementation of the executive function. Statistical processing of the results was performed using the STATISTICA version 10.0 package for Windows. Results. Executive dysfunction is specific for affective disorders with a relatively greater severity in bipolar disorder. Against the background of therapy, patients with RDD show a more pronounced dynamics of improvement in executive functions than patients with bipolar disorder, but the clinical significance of this effect requires additional study. Conclusion. Taking into account executive function impairments may be important for optimizing a personalized approach when prescribing complex psychopharmacotherapy in affective disorders.