Memory differences by sex, but not by previous diagnosis of major depressive disorder.

Memory difficulties are consistently reported in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Nonetheless, it has not been thoroughly investigated as to whether these deficits persist during remission from MDD. A group of 32 healthy young adults with no history of a mood disorder (Mage = 20.8, SD = 2.1) and 62 remitted depressed young adults (Mage = 21.1, SD = 1.9) completed a neuropsychological battery. The test battery included two measures of nonverbal memory, two measures of verbal memory, and a measure of performance validity. The testing session was repeated three to six weeks later to determine performance stability. No differences were found between healthy controls and remitted depressed patients in either memory domain (all ps > .05) and improvement in performance was exhibited over time for both groups (p = 0.004). Potential practice effects are examined. We found a stronger performance for women than men (p = 0.003), particularly for the Semantic List Learning Task (SLLT) (p = .047). Verbal and nonverbal memory and effort may not be impacted in those who are in a remitted state of MDD, early in the course of the illness. Women demonstrated auditory memory superiority over men, similar to prior research.

Neuropsychological Changes in Patients Undergoing Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms.

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of differences in neuropsychological outcomes in patients undergoing surgical clipping (SC) vs endovascular coiling (EC) for unruptured cerebral aneurysms is essential in guiding patients seeking treatment of asymptomatic cerebral aneurysms. OBJECTIVE: To perform a prospective longitudinal analysis of neuropsychological outcomes in patients who underwent microsurgery or coiling for unruptured cerebral aneurysms. METHODS: SC (50 patients), EC (35 patients), and healthy controls (43 individuals) were included. A detailed neuropsychological evaluation was performed at baseline and at 2 wk, 3 mo, 6 mo, and 12 mo. Student's t-test was utilized for comparing neuropsychological outcomes among the 3 groups. A mixed-effects model allowed for evaluation of neuropsychological outcome changes among the groups over time. RESULTS: Both the SC and EC groups had nonsignificant differences in procedure-related complications. SC patients had the greatest initial declines in short-term memory, fine motor control, and executive functioning; however, these patients also recovered to a greater degree in neuropsychological functionality. Over the next year, all groups achieved similar neuropsychological outcomes with no significant differences among groups. CONCLUSION: Whereas the initial decline in neuropsychological functioning was greater for SC patients, 1 yr after treatment there was no significant difference in neuropsychological outcome among the SC, EC, and healthy control groups.