Conduct disorder and mania: what does it mean in adults.
OBJECTIVE
Because of the relationship between childhood behavior disorders and adult substance abuse, we hypothesized that substance abusing adult bipolars were more likely to have had behavior disorders as children than nonabusing bipolar adults.


METHODS
Conduct disorder (CD) symptoms in 132 bipolar adults were compared by age and presence of comorbid substance use problems using data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area study.


RESULTS
Rates of CD were higher in bipolar subjects under age 30 (32.6%) versus those over (16.3% P<0.05). Young BPs with substance use problems (SUBST) had CD rates three times those without SUBST (52% vs. 14.8%) (P < 0.01). Young subjects without mania or SUBST had CD rates of 7.75%.


CONCLUSIONS
Substance abuse in bipolar adults may be more related to childhood conduct disorder than uncomplicated bipolar disorder.
Carlson
G A
GA
Putman Hall, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794-8790, USA. gcarlson@epo.som.sunysb.edu
Bromet
E J
EJ
Jandorf
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*