Raymond W.C. Au

Prospective Memory Deficits in Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A Preliminary Study

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to do something in the future without explicit prompts. To date, little has been known about PM deficits in bipolar disorder (BD). This study examined the nature and correlates of PM in patients with BD. Forty clinically stable BD patients and 40 matched healthy controls formed the study sample. Socio-demographic characteristics, PM, psychosocial functioning, retrospective memory (RM), and IQ were measured in all participants, whereas clinical condition was measured in patients with standardized assessment instruments. Patients performed significantly more poorly on the time-based PM task than controls (10.6 ± 5.0 vs. 14.6 ± 3.0, p < .001). In correlation analyses, older age, lower education, more severe depressive and manic symptoms, poor psychosocial functioning, poor RM, and lower scores in IQ were significantly associated with poor performance in the time-based PM task, whereas poor RM and lower scores in IQ associated with poorer performance in the event-based PM task in patients. In multivariate analyses, severity of depression and older age significantly contributed to poor performance in the time-based PM task, whereas poor RM contributed to poor performance in the event-based PM task in patients. The time-based PM is impaired in BD patients. Depressive symptoms, age, and RM were determinants of certain aspects of impaired PM performance in BD patients.

Prospective memory impairment and its implications for community living skills in bipolar disorder

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to undertake intended actions in the future. The functional significance of PM in bipolar disorder (BD) has not yet been investigated. This study examined PM impairment and its role in community living skills in clinically stable individuals with BD.

Prospective Memory Performance in Persons With Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and Healthy Persons.

PURPOSE There is a paucity of studies comparing prospective memory (PM) impairment between persons with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The aim of this study was to directly compare PM performances of these two groups and healthy controls. DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 44 persons with schizophrenia and 76 with bipolar disorder, and 44 healthy controls formed the study sample. FINDINGS Patients were found to be impaired in PM relative to controls and the two patient groups showed similar level of PM performance after controlling confounding sociodemographic and clinical variables. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The findings add to the evidence concerning the neurocognitive similarity between cohorts of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with respect to PM. Rehabilitative effort in PM remedies for both patient groups is warranted.

Assessment of prospective memory in schizophrenia using the Chinese version of the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test: A controlled study

Data on the psychometric assessment of prospective memory (PM) are limited. The Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT) and its Chinese version (CAMPROMPT‐C) have been applied to a variety of clinical conditions except for chronic schizophrenia. This controlled study explored the clinical utility of the CAMPROMPT‐C in patients with schizophrenia by comparing their PM performance with that of normal controls.

Prospective memory deficits in euthymic bipolar disorder patients: A preliminary study

Prospective memory refers to the ability to remember to do something in the future. To date, little is known about prospective memory deficits in bipolar disorder (BD) in remission (euthymia). This study examined the nature and correlates of prospective memory in these patients.

Cross-cultural validation of the St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills for Chinese patients with schizophrenia in Hong Kong.

AIM The study validated a culturally sensitive community living skills rating scale for Chinese patients by adapting the St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills (SLICLS). METHOD The Chinese version (SLICLS-C) was produced by forward and backward translation. An expert panel evaluated its content validity. Its internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, construct and concurrent validity were tested on 80 DSM-IV schizophrenia inpatients in a long-term facility. For predictive validity, the above sample was extended to ensure at least 20 subjects discharged to each of three levels of community care were included in the study sample. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION The SLICLS-C was psychometrically sound and could be used for predicting level of community care, program evaluation and measuring outcome.

Prospective memory predicts the level of community living skills in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia patients are known to have prospective memory (PM) deficits. There is no robust evidence showing that PM deficits have a major impact on community living skills in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine the association between PM and community living skills in schizophrenia. Forty-four individuals with schizophrenia formed the study sample. Participants׳ psychopathology, prospective and retrospective memory, level of intelligence, and community living skills were measured with standardized instruments. In bivariate analyses, community living skills overall but not self-care correlated with PM total and subscales scores. In multivariate analyses, event-based PM was more predictive than time-based PM of the level of community living skills. In conclusion, PM has a significant impact on community living skills in schizophrenia and attention should be paid to this type of memory disturbance in rehabilitation of schizophrenia.