Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland.
Eur Psychiatry. 2011 Sep;26(6):346-53. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2009.11.006. Epub 2010 Jun 7.
Cognitive functioning in anxiety disorders has received little investigation, particularly among young adults and in non-clinical samples. The present study examined cognitive functioning in a population-based sample of young adults with anxiety disorders in comparison to healthy peers.
A population-based sample of 21-35-year-olds with a lifetime history of anxiety disorders (n=75) and a random sample of healthy controls (n=71) derived from the same population were compared in terms of performance in neuropsychological tests measuring verbal and visual short-term memory, verbal long-term memory, attention, psychomotor processing speed, and executive functioning.
In general, young adults with anxiety disorders did not have major cognitive impairments when compared to healthy peers. When participants with anxiety disorder in remission were excluded, persons with current anxiety disorder scored lower in visual working memory tests. Current psychotropic medication use and low current psychosocial functioning associated with deficits in executive functioning, psychomotor processing speed, and visual short-term memory.
Lifetime history of anxiety disorders is not associated with cognitive impairment among young adults in the general population. However, among persons with anxiety disorders, current psychotropic medication use and low psychosocial functioning, indicating more severe symptoms, may associate with cognitive impairments.
焦虑障碍患者的认知功能很少受到研究，尤其是在年轻成年人和非临床样本中。本研究比较了患有焦虑障碍的年轻成年人和健康同龄人在人群样本中的认知功能。
本研究比较了来自同一人群的有或无焦虑障碍的 21-35 岁人群（n=75）和健康对照组（n=71）的认知功能，评估了神经心理学测试中言语和视觉短期记忆、言语长期记忆、注意力、精神运动处理速度和执行功能的表现。
一般来说，与健康同龄人相比，患有焦虑障碍的年轻成年人并没有明显的认知障碍。当排除缓解期的焦虑障碍患者后，目前患有焦虑障碍的患者在视觉工作记忆测试中得分较低。目前使用精神药物和较低的当前社会心理功能与执行功能、精神运动处理速度和视觉短期记忆的缺陷相关。
在一般人群中，有焦虑障碍的年轻成年人的认知功能不受影响。然而，在有焦虑障碍的人群中，当前使用精神药物和较低的社会心理功能，表明症状更严重，可能与认知障碍有关。
