Measures of attention and hyperactivity symptoms in a high-risk sample of children of bipolar parents.
BACKGROUND
To determine whether significant symptoms of inattention were present among the offspring of well-characterized bipolar parents.


METHODS
We included 53 offspring of 30 parents meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder diagnosed by consensus on the basis of a SADS-L interview and a wealth of longitudinal clinical data. The unaffected parent had no lifetime history of a major psychiatric illness. Offspring, prospectively followed for up to 5 years, completed psychometric measures of attention and mood when judged to be at a good level of functioning (well, remitted or treated).


RESULTS
Those offspring with any lifetime psychiatric diagnosis endorsed more subjective problems with attention. However, there was no measurable difference on tasks of sustained attention between those with and those without a lifetime psychiatric illness including affective disorder. There was a significant association between self-reported symptoms of depression and inattention, but no association between either self-report measure and an objective measure of sustained attention.


CONCLUSIONS
This study was not intended to be a comprehensive neuropsychological investigation of at risk offspring.


CONCLUSIONS
In this high-risk population, subjective difficulty with attention appeared to be state-dependent, associated with the degree of subjective distress related to an underlying psychiatric illness.
Duffy
A
A
Dalhousie University, Department of Psychiatry, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Grof
P
P
Kutcher
S
S
Robertson
C
C
Alda
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological