title: Temperament in bipolar illness: impact on prognosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study was designed to investigate the relations between temperament and outcome in bipolar illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two patients presenting with bipolar type I disorder were recruited from consecutive admissions and evaluated when euthymic. The criteria developed by Akiskal and Mallya (Criteria for the 'soft' bipolar spectrum: treatment implications. Psychopharmacol. Bull. 1987;23:68-73) were used to assess both depressive (DT) and hyperthymic temperaments (HT) in a dimensional approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple regression analysis showed that a higher DT score or a lower HT score were significantly associated with a greater number of episodes. Furthermore, a higher DT score was strongly associated with a higher percentage of major depressive episodes. Conversely, a higher HT score was associated with a trend to manic rather than depressive episodes. Suicide attempts appeared more frequent in the history of patients presenting with higher DT scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings strengthen the hypothesis that temperament is one of the main variables accounting for some features in the clinical evolution of bipolar disorder such as polarity of episodes. Furthermore, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis of a trait-state continuum between personality and affective episodes.
authors.affiliation: Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie, CHS Charles Perrens, Bordeaux, France. chantal.henry@bordeaux.inserm.fr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacoste
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bellivier
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verdoux
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bourgeois
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leboyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology; D013694:Temperament