title: [Bipolar disorder. Follow-up of lithium therapy in a clinic].
abstract: Lithium carbonate is the drug of choice in the prophylactic treatment of bipolar disorder. The purpose of this article is to describe the effective functioning of lithium in a clinical way in our hospital under the control of university graduates in nursing. During the first ten months of its use, 40 patients have been included which led to 122 appointments, absenteeism being 8.62%. 20% (8/40) of the lithium intoxications at the start of the follow-up were inferior to 0.5% mmol/l while at the end, only 5.3% (2/38) fell below 0.5% mmol/l. The average of the lithium intoxications at the end of the study period was significantly higher than in the moment of entrance to the program (p = 0.009). During the study period, three relapses were registered.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital de Terrassa, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Barcelona.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Agulló Hernández
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Sanz Osorio
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barbarà Berdaguer
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vallès i Callol
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garolera Freixa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Delgado Cruz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alberni i Coderch
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare; D000465:Algorithms; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000506:poisoning / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000506:poisoning / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D003663:Decision Trees; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000506:poisoning / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D018692:Antimanic Agents; D016651:Lithium Carbonate