Research paperGender differences in the association between physical activity and cognitive function in individuals with bipolar disorder

- Physical activity is associated with beneficial effects on somatic morbidities of BD.
- Obesity is associated with neurocognitive impairment in bipolar disorder.
- Vigorous active bipolar females perform better in cognition tasks than less actives.
- Physical activity might increase neurocognitive performance in bipolar disorder.
- Sex differences play a role in the interaction of physical activity and cognition.

IntroductionBipolar disorder (BD) is accompanied by a high number of comorbidities and associated with an overall increased mortality. Especially obesity, systemic inflammatory processes and cognitive deficits are highly prevalent and increase with the course of illness. Physical activity (PA) is associated with beneficial effects on somatic comorbidities such as obesity or cardiovascular disease in individuals without psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, PA might increase neurocognitive performance and reduce systemic inflammation.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to investigate the association between PA and neurocognitive function in euthymic individuals suffering from BD.Methods and participants120 individuals with BD, euthymic at test time, completed the self-reported International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) assessing PA of the past seven days and were accordingly assigned to a specific activity category (low, moderate or vigorous). Furthermore, clinical parameters were gathered and cognitive tests analysing verbal-dependent intelligence, attention, executive functioning as well as memory were administered.ResultsFemale individuals in the vigorous PA group performed significantly higher in most of the cognitive domains compared to females with moderate or low PA. In males, we only found a significant difference in one test for attention between moderate/vigorous and the low activity group.ConclusionDifferences between PA groups in cognitive performance in female individuals with BD were obvious in almost all cognitive domains. As cognitive deficits are strongly associated with a worse course of disease and outcome, PA might offer a concomitant therapy targeting not only somatic comorbidities such as obesity and cardiovascular disease, but also neurocognition.