The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery in Patients with Bipolar I Disorder

Abstract

The Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative was devised to identify a neurocognitive battery to be used in clinical trials targeting cognition in schizophrenia, a process, which resulted in the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). The MCCB has been selected by the United States Food and Drug Administration to be used as the primary outcome measure in registry trials for cognitive agents in schizophrenia. Given the clinical and cognitive overlap between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BPD), it is likely that any compound shown to have cognitive benefits in schizophrenia will subsequently be tested in BPD. Unlike the MCCB for schizophrenia, there remains no consensus regarding outcome measures if cognitive trials were to be undertaken in BPD. The utility of the MCCB in BPD has not yet been systematically investigated. We administered the MCCB to 80 bipolar I patients; 37 were strictly euthymic and 43 were symptomatic. We compared their performance with a demographically matched healthy sample (n=148) on seven MCCB domains, and the composite. BPD patients were statistically significantly impaired on five of seven MCCB domains at levels consistent with meta-analytic studies of cognition in BPD. In contrast, patients' performance was less impaired on the Reasoning and Problem-solving and Social Cognition domains, differences that did not survive statistical correction for multiple testing. Symptomatic status only modestly influenced performance. These data suggest that the MCCB, devised for use in schizophrenia, may also represent a useful outcome measure in cognitive trials for BPD. Additional studies should address important psychometric features such as repeatability and potential practice and/or ceiling effects.

An individual task meta-analysis of social cognition in euthymic bipolar disorders

“…When these reports were examined further, only 26 met all the selection criteria. Seven of them were excluded as they were based on the same sample used in other studies (Martino et al, 2008;Konstantakopoulos et al, 2010Konstantakopoulos et al, , 2011Burdick et al, 2011;Hoertnagl et al, 2011;Ioannidi et al, 2011;Ibañez et al, 2012). Finally, 19 reports comparing the social cognitive performance of 712 BD patients (mean age: 40.54 years) with that of 664 healthy controls (mean age: 39.25) were included (Table 1).…”

Myelin vs Axon Abnormalities in White Matter in Bipolar Disorder

“…Cognitive functioning was assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB; Nuechterlein et al, 2008). While the MCCB was developed for cognitive assessment in SZ, recent work has demonstrated its sensitivity and validity in detecting neurocognitive deficits in patients with BDP (Burdick et al, 2011). The MCCB includes 10 tasks that measure processing speed (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia Symbol Coding, Animal Fluency, Trails A), attention (Continuous Performance Test), working memory (WMS-III Spatial Span, Letter-Number Span), verbal learning (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised), visual learning (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised), problem-solving (Neuropsychological Assessment Battery), and social cognition (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test).…”

Examining cognition across the bipolar/schizophrenia diagnostic spectrum

“…24 This bat tery was designed specifically for use in schizophrenia re search but has also been shown to be a valid and reliable cog nitive measure in bipolar disorder. [25][26][27] The MCCB measures 7 domains of cognition using 10 tasks: 7. Social cognition (MayerSaloveyCaruso Emotional Intelli gence Test: Managing Emotions).…”

“…Previous studies of bipolar disorder have failed to find deficits in executive functioning using the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Mazes task. 25,27,47 The authors of these studies noted that more com plex measures of executive function, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, may be more sensitive to detecting deficits in bipolar disorder. Although our bipolar group was impaired on the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Mazes rela tive to controls, this task may not have been sufficiently com plex to differentiate between bipolar disorder and schizoaffec tive bipolar.…”