Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Aug 1;45:236-41. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.06.006. Epub 2013 Jun 21.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the neuropsychological functioning and the effect of antidepressant drug intake on cognitive performance in a group of relatively young generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients. Forty patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD and 31 healthy subjects participated in the study (Control group, CON). None of the selected subjects had comorbid depression. GAD subjects were divided into two different subgroups: 18 were taking antidepressants [GAD-pharmacotherapy (GAD-p group)] and 22 were treatment-naïve (GAD group). Each group was administered with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery to assess attention, memory and executive functions. Performance on executive and non-verbal memory tasks of both GAD groups was largely worse than the CON group. However, these deficits seem to be more marked in patients taking antidepressants, especially in the domains of attention, non-verbal memory and executive functions. The present study indicates that GAD is associated with cognitive impairments among young adults. However, the observed association of neuropsychological deficits and the use of pharmacotherapy suggest a possible effect of antidepressant treatment on attention, executive functioning and non-verbal memory.
本研究旨在探讨一组相对年轻的广泛性焦虑症 (GAD) 患者的神经心理学功能以及抗抑郁药物摄入对认知表现的影响。40 名符合 DSM-IV 广泛性焦虑症诊断标准的患者和 31 名健康受试者参加了研究（对照组，CON）。所选受试者均无共病抑郁。GAD 患者分为两组：18 名正在服用抗抑郁药 [广泛性焦虑症药物治疗 (GAD-p 组)] 和 22 名未接受治疗的患者（GAD 组）。每个组都接受了全面的神经心理学测试，以评估注意力、记忆和执行功能。与 CON 组相比，GAD 组的执行功能和非言语记忆任务的表现明显更差。然而，在服用抗抑郁药的患者中，这些缺陷似乎更为明显，尤其是在注意力、非言语记忆和执行功能方面。本研究表明，GAD 与年轻成年人的认知障碍有关。然而，观察到的神经心理学缺陷与药物治疗的相关性表明，抗抑郁药物治疗可能会影响注意力、执行功能和非言语记忆。
