The effect of aging on facial emotion recognition in bipolar disorder.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Millett C, Corrigan A, Adamis A, Bonner C, Lebovitz J, Palm S, Majd M, Gunning F, Burdick K
Journal	Psychiatry Res
Volume	327
Pagination	115386
Date Published	07/29/2023
ISSN	1872-7123
Keywords	Bipolar Disorder, Facial Recognition
Abstract	OBJECTIVE: Convergent data point to an exaggerated negativity bias in bipolar disorder (BD), and little is known about whether people with BD experience the 'positivity effect' with increasing age. METHOD: This is a cross sectional study of 202 participants with BD aged 18-65, and a sample (n = 53) of healthy controls (HCs). Participants completed the CANTAB Emotion Recognition Task (ERT). Using analysis of variance, we tested for a main effect of age, diagnosis, and an interaction of age x diagnosis on both negative and positive conditions. RESULTS: We observed increased accuracy in identifying positive stimuli in the HC sample as a function of increasing age, a pattern that was not seen in participants with BD. Specifically, there was a significant diagnosis by age cohort interaction on ERT performance that was specific to the identification of happiness, where the Later Adulthood cohort of HCs was more accurate when identifying happy faces relative to the same cohort of BD patients. CONCLUSION: Later life looks different for people with BD. With an aging population globally, gaining a clearer picture of the effects of recurrent mood dysregulation on the brain will be critical in guiding efforts to effectively optimize outcomes in older adults with BD.
DOI	10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115386
PubMed ID	37544087