A family study of rapid-cycling bipolar illness.
Twenty-nine out of 195 bipolar/episodic schizoaffective patients were judged to be rapid-cyclers (15%). Twenty-five of the 29 were female (86%). The age-corrected morbid risk for major affective disorder was 23.5% in 179 relatives of rapid-cyclers and 31.0% in 189 relatives of matched non-rapid cyclers (chi 2 = 2.6, NS). The prevalence of rapid-cycling itself was also not different in the two groups of relatives. Rapid-cycling thus appears to arise from factors which are separable from the genetic vulnerability to bipolar illness and which do not lead to aggregation within families.
Nurnberger
J
J
Clinical Neurogenetics Branch, National Institutes of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD.
Guroff
J J
JJ
Hamovit
J
J
Berrettini
W
W
Gershon
E
E
D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors