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Objective: Clinical staging has increasingly been considered suitable for psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder. A staging model of bipolar disorder could help clinicians understand the mechanisms underlying the course of the illness and guide prognosis and therapy. This study aimed to investigate differences in functional status and cognitive functioning in patients in different clinical stages of bipolar disorder.

Method: Subjects who met DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder (n= 54) were recruited from the Bipolar Disorders Program at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (Brazil) from October 2012 to October 2013. All patients had been in remission (score< 7 on the 17-item HDRS and the YMRS) for at least 1 month before assessment. They were classified into 4 clinical stages according to the model described by Kapczinski et al and compared to 43 healthy controls. Functional status was assessed by using …