Dealing with heterogeneity of cognitive dysfunction in acute depression : a clustering approach
Vicent-Gil, Muriel (Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau)
Portella Moll, Maria J., 1975- (Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau)
Serra-Blasco, Maria (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Navarra-Ventura, Guillem (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Crivillés, Sara (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Aguilar, Eva (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Palao, Diego (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Cardoner, N. (Narcís) (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Heterogeneity in cognitive functioning among major depressive disorder (MDD) patients could have been the reason for the small-to-moderate differences reported so far when it is compared to other psychiatric conditions or to healthy controls. Additionally, most of these studies did not take into account clinical and sociodemographic characteristics that could have played a relevant role in cognitive variability. This study aims to identify empirical clusters based on cognitive, clinical and sociodemographic variables in a sample of acute MDD patients. In a sample of 174 patients with an acute depressive episode, a two-step clustering analysis was applied considering potentially relevant cognitive, clinical and sociodemographic variables as indicators for grouping. Treatment resistance was the most important factor for clustering, closely followed by cognitive performance. Three empirical subgroups were obtained: cluster 1 was characterized by a sample of non-resistant patients with preserved cognitive functioning (n = 68, 39%); cluster 2 was formed by treatment-resistant patients with selective cognitive deficits (n = 66, 38%) and cluster 3 consisted of resistant (n = 23, 58%) and non-resistant (n = 17, 42%) acute patients with significant deficits in all neurocognitive domains (n = 40, 23%). The findings provide evidence upon the existence of cognitive heterogeneity across patients in an acute depressive episode. Therefore, assessing cognition becomes an evident necessity for all patients diagnosed with MDD, and although treatment resistant is associated with greater cognitive dysfunction, non-resistant patients can also show significant cognitive deficits. By targeting not only mood but also cognition, patients are more likely to achieve full recovery and prevent new relapses.
Grants:	Instituto de Salud Carlos III CP16/00020 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca SLT006_17_177
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Acute episode ; Analysis ; Cluster ; Cognition ; Heterogeneity ; Major depressive disorder
Published in:	Psychological Medicine, Vol. 51 (december 2021) , p. 2886-2894, ISSN 1469-8978

DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720001567
PMID: 32476636

9 p, 234.9 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut de Recerca Sant Pau
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles