Objective An association between bipolar disorder and cognitive impairment has repeatedly been described, even for euthymic patients. Findings are inconsistent both across primary studies and previous meta‐analyses. This study reanalysed 31 primary data sets as a single large sample (N = 2876) to provide a more definitive view. Method Individual patient and control data were obtained from original authors for 11 measures from four common neuropsychological tests: California or Rey Verbal Learning Task (VLT), Trail Making Test (TMT), Digit Span and/or Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. Results Impairments were found for all 11 test‐measures in the bipolar group after controlling for age, IQ and gender (Ps ≤ 0.001, E.S. = 0.26–0.63). Residual mood symptoms confound this result but cannot account for the effect sizes found. Impairments also seem unrelated to drug treatment. Some test‐measures were weakly correlated with illness severity measures suggesting that some impairments may track illness progression. Conclusion This reanalysis supports VLT, Digit Span and TMT as robust measures of cognitive impairments in bipolar disorder patients. The heterogeneity of some test results explains previous differences in meta‐analyses. Better controlling for confounds suggests deficits may be smaller than previously reported but should be tracked longitudinally across illness progression and treatment.

Polyphenol compounds found in berry fruits, in particular flavonoids, have been associated with health benefits including improvement in cognition and neuronal function with aging. Concord grape juice contains polyphenols, including anthocyanins and flavanols, and previous research has shown improvement in a number of human health conditions with grape juice supplementation. In the current study, older adult subjects with mild cognitive impairment consumed Concord grape juice or placebo for 16 weeks and were administered assessments of memory function and brain activation pre- and postintervention. Participants who consumed grape juice showed reduced semantic interference on memory tasks. Relatively greater activation in anterior and posterior regions of the right hemisphere was also observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging in the grape juice treated subjects. These findings provide further evidence that Concord grape juice can enhance neurocognitive function in older adults with mild memory decline.

No abstract

Most bipolar adolescents experienced syndromic recovery following their first hospitalization. However, rates of symptomatic and functional recoveries were much lower. Future studies examining effective pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment strategies for bipolar youth with co-occurring disorders and investigating factors that contribute to the development of substance use disorders and treatment adherence in bipolar youth are necessary to improve outcome.

The effects of the sequence of onsets of bipolar and cannabis use disorders were less pronounced than observed in co-occurring alcohol and bipolar disorders. Aggressive drug abuse treatment immediately after a first psychiatric hospitalization might decrease rates of recurrence and new cases of cannabis use disorder in the course of bipolar disorder.