Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:14:46.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Age at onset of first episode and time to treatment in in-patients with bipolar disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Gunnar Morken*
Affiliation:
⊘stmarka Psychiatric Department, St Olavs Hospital and Institute of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Trondheim
Arne E. Vaaler
Affiliation:
⊘stmarka Psychiatric Department, St Olavs Hospital and Institute of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Trondheim
Gunn E. Folden
Affiliation:
⊘stmarka Psychiatric Department, St Olavs Hospital and Institute of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Trondheim
Ole A. Andreassen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ulleval University Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, University of Oslo
Ulrik F. Malt
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Rikshospitalet University Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway
*
Gunnar Morken, ⊘stmarka Psychiatric Department, St Olavs Hospital, Box 3008 Lade, 7441 Trondheim, Norway. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Summary

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between age at onset and time to first pharmacological treatment in patients with either bipolar I or II disorder. A total of 146 consecutive in-patients acutely admitted from the same catchment area were included. Patients were divided into four age groups: 0–12 years (23%); 13–18 years (32%); 19–29 years (26%); and 30 years (18%). Mean age at first affective episode was 20.2 years (s.d.=11.8). This represents a similar pattern to the age at onset seen in out-patients in the USA. Early age at onset predicted a longer time to first pharmacological treatment (ρ =0.695, P <0.01).

Type
Short Report
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2009 

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

None.

References

1 Post, RM, Luckenbaugh, DA, Leverich, GS, Altshuler, LL, Frye, MA, Suppes, T, et al. Incidence of childhood-onset bipolar illness in the USA and Europe. Br J Psychiatry 2008; 192: 150–1.Google Scholar
2 Leverich, GS, Post, RM. Course of bipolar illness after history of childhood trauma. Lancet 2006; 367: 1040–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3 Leverich, GS, Post, RM, Keck, PE Jr, Altshuler, LL, Frye, MA, Kupka, RW, et al. The poor prognosis of childhood-onset bipolar disorder. J Pediatr 2007; 150: 485–90.Google Scholar
4 Geller, B, Craney, JL, Bolhofner, K, Nickelsburg, MJ, Williams, M, Zimerman, B. Two-year prospective follow-up of children with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype. Am J Psychiatry 2002; 159: 927–33.Google Scholar
5 Perlis, RH, Miyahara, S, Marangell, LB, Wisniewski, SR, Ostacher, M, DelBello, MP, et al. Long-term implications of early onset in bipolar disorder: data from the first 1000 participants in the systematic treatment enhancement program for bipolar disorder (STEP–BD). Biol Psychiatr 2004; 55: 875–81.Google Scholar
6 Bennazzi, F, Akiskal, HS. How best to identify a bipolar-related subtype among major depressive patients without spontaneous hypomania: superiority of age at onset criterion over recurrence and polarity? J Affect Disord 2008; 107: 7788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Rihmer, Z, Angst, J. Mood disorders: epidemiology. In Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (eds Sadock, BJ & Sadock, VA): 1575–82. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005.Google Scholar
8 American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) (DSM–IV). APA, 1994.Google Scholar
9 First, M, Spitzer, R, Gibbon, M, Williams, J. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV – Patient Version. American Psychiatric Press, 1997.Google Scholar
10 Post, RM, Nolen, WA, Kupka, RW, Denicoff, KD, Leverich, GS, Keck, PE Jr, et al. The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network: I. Rationale and methods. Br J Psychiatry 2001; 178 (suppl 41): s16976.Google Scholar
11 Suppes, T, Leverich, GS, Keck, PE, Nolen, WA, Denicoff, KD, Altshuler, LL, et al. The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network: II. Demographics and illness characteristics of the first 261 patients. J Affect Disord 2001; 67: 4559.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Morken et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Table S1

Download Morken et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 35.1 KB
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.