Do puerperal psychotic episodes identify a more familial subtype of bipolar disorder? Results of a family history study.
Bipolar women have a marked vulnerability to puerperal psychosis, an episode of mania or psychosis following childbirth. We have conducted a family history study to examine the question of whether a vulnerability to puerperal episodes of illness is a marker for a more familial form of bipolar disorder. A consecutive series of 103 bipolar disorder probands were recruited in a lithium clinic and given a semi-structured interview, including a detailed family history. For the 52 female probands, information was also obtained about the relationship of episodes to childbirth. The morbid risk of affective disorder in first-degree relatives of bipolar women who had suffered an episode of mania, hypomania or schizoaffective mania with onset within 6 weeks of childbirth was significantly higher than that in relatives of parous bipolar women with no episodes in relation to childbirth (P = 0.0077). Despite relatively small numbers, this study provides evidence to support the hypothesis that puerperal episodes identify a more familial subtype of bipolar disorder.
Jones
Ian
I
Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Birmingham, UK. I.R.Jones@bham.ac.uk
Craddock
Nick
N
D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment