International Journal of Bipolar Disorders

http://www.journalbipolardisorders.com/

List of Papers (Total 250)

Key questions on the long term renal effects of lithium: a review of pertinent data

For over half a century, it has been widely known that lithium is the most efficacious maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder. Despite thorough research on the long-term effects of lithium on renal function, a number of important questions relevant to clinical practice remain. The risk of polyuria, reflecting renal tubular dysfunction, is seen in a substantial proportion of...

Controversies regarding lithium-associated weight gain: case–control study of real-world drug safety data

The impact of long-term lithium treatment on weight gain has been a controversial topic with conflicting evidence. We aim to assess reporting of weight gain associated with lithium and other mood stabilizers compared to lamotrigine which is considered free of metabolic adverse drug reactions (ADRs). We conducted a case/non-case pharmacovigilance study using data from the AMSP...

Differential diagnosis of unipolar versus bipolar depression by GSK3 levels in peripheral blood: a pilot experimental study

The differential diagnosis of patients presenting for the first time with a depressive episode into unipolar disorder versus bipolar disorder is crucial to establish the correct pharmacological therapy (antidepressants vs mood stabilizers), but no biological markers are currently available. Several lines of evidence indicate an involvement of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 (GSK3) in...

Supra-second interval timing in bipolar disorder: examining the role of disorder sub-type, mood, and medication status

Widely reported by bipolar disorder (BD) patients, cognitive symptoms, including deficits in executive function, memory, attention, and timing are under-studied. Work suggests that individuals with BD show impairments in interval timing tasks, including supra-second, sub-second, and implicit motor timing compared to the neuronormative population. However, how time perception...

Association between childhood trauma, cognition, and psychosocial function in a large sample of partially or fully remitted patients with bipolar disorder and healthy participants

Childhood trauma (CT) are frequently reported by patients with bipolar disorder (BD), but it is unclear whether and how CT contribute to patients’ cognitive and psychosocial impairments. We aimed to examine the impact of CT on cognition and psychosocial functioning in a large sample of 345 patients with BD and 183 healthy control participants (HC) using the Childhood Trauma...

Countering the declining use of lithium therapy: a call to arms

For over half a century, it has been widely known that lithium is the most efficacious treatment for bipolar disorder. Yet, despite this, its prescription has consistently declined over this same period of time. A number of reasons for this apparent disparity between evidence and clinical practice have been proposed, including a lack of confidence amongst clinicians possibly...

NRX-101 (D-cycloserine plus lurasidone) vs. lurasidone for the maintenance of initial stabilization after ketamine in patients with severe bipolar depression with acute suicidal ideation and behavior: a randomized prospective phase 2 trial

We tested the hypothesis that, after initial improvement with intravenous ketamine in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) with severe depression and acute suicidal thinking or behavior, a fixed-dose combination of oral D-cycloserine (DCS) and lurasidone (NRX-101) can maintain improvement more effectively than lurasidone alone. This was a multi-center, double-blind, twostage...

The IBER study: a feasibility randomised controlled trial of imagery based emotion regulation for the treatment of anxiety in bipolar disorder

Intrusive mental imagery is associated with anxiety and mood instability within bipolar disorder and therefore represents a novel treatment target. Imagery Based Emotion Regulation (IBER) is a brief structured psychological intervention developed to enable people to use the skills required to regulate the emotional impact of these images. Participants aged 18 and over with a...

Mitochondrial genetic variants associated with bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia in a Japanese population

Bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are complex psychotic disorders (PSY), with both environmental and genetic factors including possible maternal inheritance playing a role. Some studies have investigated whether genetic variants in the mitochondrial chromosome are associated with BD and SZ. However, the genetic variants identified as being associated are not identical...

Differential characteristics of bipolar I and II disorders: a retrospective, cross-sectional evaluation of clinical features, illness course, and response to treatment

The distinction between bipolar I and bipolar II disorder and its treatment implications have been a matter of ongoing debate. The aim of this study was to examine differences between patients with bipolar I and II disorders with particular emphasis on the early phases of the disorders. 808 subjects diagnosed with bipolar I (N = 587) or bipolar II disorder (N = 221) according to...

Neonatal admission after lithium use in pregnant women with bipolar disorders: a retrospective cohort study

Lithium is the preferred treatment for pregnant women with bipolar disorders (BD), as it is most effective in preventing postpartum relapse. Although it has been prescribed during pregnancy for decades, the safety for neonates and obstetric outcomes are a topic of ongoing scientific debate as previous research has yielded contradicting outcomes. Our study aims to compare (re...

Rates and associations of relapse over 5 years of 2649 people with bipolar disorder: a retrospective UK cohort study

Evidence regarding the rate of relapse in people with bipolar disorder (BD), particularly from the UK, is lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the rate and associations of clinician-defined relapse over 5 years in a large sample of BD patients receiving routine care from a UK mental health service. We utilised de-identified electronic health records to sample people with BD at...

Exploratory study of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation and age of onset of bipolar disorder

Sunlight contains ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation that triggers the production of vitamin D by skin. Vitamin D has widespread effects on brain function in both developing and adult brains. However, many people live at latitudes (about > 40 N or S) that do not receive enough UVB in winter to produce vitamin D. This exploratory study investigated the association between the age of...

Characteristics of rapid cycling in 1261 bipolar disorder patients

Rapid-cycling (RC; ≥ 4 episodes/year) in bipolar disorder (BD) has been recognized since the 1970s and associated with inferior treatment response. However, associations of single years of RC with overall cycling rate, long-term morbidity, and diagnostic subtypes are not clear. We compared descriptive and clinical characteristics in 1261 BD patients with/without RC, based on...

Clinicians’ preferences and attitudes towards the use of lithium in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorders around the world: a survey from the ISBD Lithium task force

Lithium has long been considered the gold-standard pharmacological treatment for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorders (BD) which is supported by a wide body of evidence. Prior research has shown a steady decline in lithium prescriptions during the last two decades. We aim to identify potential factors explaining this decline across the world with an anonymous worldwide...

Phenotype fingerprinting of bipolar disorder prodrome

Detecting prodromal symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD) has garnered significant attention in recent research, as early intervention could potentially improve therapeutic efficacy and improve patient outcomes. The heterogeneous nature of the prodromal phase in BD, however, poses considerable challenges for investigators. Our study aimed to identify distinct prodromal phenotypes or...

Predictors of adherence to electronic self-monitoring in patients with bipolar disorder: a contactless study using Growth Mixture Models

Several studies have reported on the feasibility of electronic (e-)monitoring using computers or smartphones in patients with mental disorders, including bipolar disorder (BD). While studies on e-monitoring have examined the role of demographic factors, such as age, gender, or socioeconomic status and use of health apps, to our knowledge, no study has examined clinical...

Racial differences in the major clinical symptom domains of bipolar disorder

Across clinical settings, black individuals are disproportionately less likely to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder compared to schizophrenia, a traditionally more severe and chronic disorder with lower expectations for remission. The causes of this disparity are likely multifactorial, ranging from the effects of implicit bias, to developmental and lifelong effects of structural...

Methylomic biomarkers of lithium response in bipolar disorder: a clinical utility study

Response to lithium (Li) is highly variable in bipolar disorders (BD). Despite decades of research, no clinical predictor(s) of response to Li prophylaxis have been consistently identified. Recently, we developed epigenetic Methylation Specific High-Resolution Melting (MS-HRM) assays able to discriminate good responders (GR) from non-responders (NR) to Li in individuals with BD...

Structured physical exercise for bipolar depression: an open-label, proof-of concept study

Physical exercise (PE) is a recommended lifestyle intervention for different mental disorders and has shown specific positive therapeutic effects in unipolar depressive disorder. Considering the similar symptomatology of the depressive phase in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and unipolar depressive disorder, it is reasonable to suggest that PE may also be beneficial for...

Experiences that matter in bipolar disorder: a qualitative study using the capability, comfort and calm framework

When assessing the value of an intervention in bipolar disorder, researchers and clinicians often focus on metrics that quantify improvements to core diagnostic symptoms (e.g., mania). Providers often overlook or misunderstand the impact of treatment on life quality and function. We wanted to better characterize the shared experiences and obstacles of bipolar disorder within the...

Emotion regulation in bipolar disorder type-I: multivariate analysis of fMRI data

Bipolar disorder type-I (BD-I) patients are known to show emotion regulation abnormalities. In a previous fMRI study using an explicit emotion regulation paradigm, we compared responses from 19 BD-I patients and 17 matched healthy controls (HC). A standard general linear model-based univariate analysis revealed that BD patients showed increased activations in inferior frontal...

Lithium levels and lifestyle in patients with bipolar disorder: a new tool for self-management

Patients should get actively involved in the management of their illness. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of lifestyle factors, including sleep, diet, and physical activity, on lithium levels in patients with bipolar disorder. A multicenter study was performed. In total, 157 lithium measurements were done biweekly in a sample of 65 patients (35 women) over 6...