Yamamoto Tetsuya, Shimada Hironori
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.
Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2012;19(3):183-91. doi: 10.1080/09084282.2011.643959. Epub 2012 Jun 6.
Although recent studies have indicated that cognitive dysfunctions may persist after recovery from a major depressive episode (MDE), the claim remains controversial. To clarify this clinically important issue, we investigated the cognitive functions of people who had experienced one or more MDE, after controlling for several confounding variables: differences in (a) medications, (b) age ranges, and (c) disorder characteristics. Neuropsychological tests for memory, attention, and executive function were employed to compare 12 recovered depressed participants who had fully met the criteria for MDE to 30 participants who had partially met the criteria or had not met them at all. The recovered depressed participants were impaired on tasks of verbal learning and memory and selective or divided attention in contrast to others. After an alpha correction was applied, the deficits in divided attention remained significant. These cognitive shortfalls also distinguished people who had experienced an MDE from those who had partially experienced them or had not experienced them at all. We suggest that the experience of an MDE may have a persistent negative influence on cognitive functions, particularly on their higher levels, such as divided attention.
尽管最近的研究表明，认知功能障碍可能在重度抑郁发作（MDE）恢复后持续存在，但这一说法仍存在争议。为了澄清这一临床重要问题，我们在控制了几个混杂变量后，对经历过一次或多次MDE的人的认知功能进行了调查：（a）药物差异、（b）年龄范围差异和（c）疾病特征差异。采用神经心理学测试来评估记忆、注意力和执行功能，将12名完全符合MDE标准的康复抑郁症患者与30名部分符合标准或完全不符合标准的参与者进行比较。与其他人相比，康复的抑郁症患者在言语学习和记忆任务以及选择性或分散注意力方面存在障碍。在应用α校正后，分散注意力的缺陷仍然显著。这些认知缺陷也将经历过MDE的人与部分经历过或根本没有经历过MDE的人区分开来。我们认为，MDE的经历可能会对认知功能产生持续的负面影响，特别是对其较高水平的功能，如分散注意力。
