TY - JOUR

T1 - Serum levels of olanzapine are associated with acute cognitive effects in bipolar disorder

AU - Shoshina, Irina I.

AU - Almeida, Natalia L.

AU - Oliveira, Milena E.C.

AU - Trombetta, Bianca N.T.

AU - Silva, Gabriella M.

AU - Fars, Julien

AU - Santos, Natanael A.

AU - Fernandes, Thiago P.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2022/4/1

Y1 - 2022/4/1

N2 - Bipolar (BPD) patients have deficits in cognition, but there are still controversies about the effects of some medications on their cognitive performance. Here, we investigated the relationship between cognition in terms of executive functions, memory, and attention in both first-episode medication-naive BPD patients and BPD patients taking olanzapine. Forty-one healthy controls, 40 unmedicated drug-naive BPD patients, and 34 BPD patients who took only olanzapine were recruited for the study. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Flanker test, Stroop test, and Corsi-block test. Bayesian multivariate regression analysis was run considering maximum robustness to avoid bias and to predict the outcomes. Our results revealed that unmedicated medication-naive BPD patients performed worse than healthy controls and the olanzapine group in some tasks. Additionally, BPD patients who took olanzapine had better cognitive performance than healthy controls and unmedicated BPD patients. The acute cognitive effects were predicted by olanzapine dosage and serum levels (i.e., large effects). The potential pro-cognitive effects of olanzapine in BPD patients should be carefully interpreted by considering various other clinical variables. We expect that our findings will contribute to further research in this area, with the goal of helping other researchers, patients, and the population.

AB - Bipolar (BPD) patients have deficits in cognition, but there are still controversies about the effects of some medications on their cognitive performance. Here, we investigated the relationship between cognition in terms of executive functions, memory, and attention in both first-episode medication-naive BPD patients and BPD patients taking olanzapine. Forty-one healthy controls, 40 unmedicated drug-naive BPD patients, and 34 BPD patients who took only olanzapine were recruited for the study. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Flanker test, Stroop test, and Corsi-block test. Bayesian multivariate regression analysis was run considering maximum robustness to avoid bias and to predict the outcomes. Our results revealed that unmedicated medication-naive BPD patients performed worse than healthy controls and the olanzapine group in some tasks. Additionally, BPD patients who took olanzapine had better cognitive performance than healthy controls and unmedicated BPD patients. The acute cognitive effects were predicted by olanzapine dosage and serum levels (i.e., large effects). The potential pro-cognitive effects of olanzapine in BPD patients should be carefully interpreted by considering various other clinical variables. We expect that our findings will contribute to further research in this area, with the goal of helping other researchers, patients, and the population.

KW - Bipolar disorder

KW - Cognition

KW - Cognitive tests

KW - Medication

KW - Olanzapine

KW - Serum levels

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126060917&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/937d113d-ad64-33ef-ae9c-05b8c82e570f/

U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114443

DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114443

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85126060917

VL - 310

JO - Psychiatry Research

JF - Psychiatry Research

SN - 0165-1781

M1 - 114443

ER -