title: Life events in a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype compared to attention-deficit hyperactive and normal controls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine life events in subjects with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype (PEA-BP) compared to those in subjects with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and normal controls (NC).
  
  
  METHODS
  To optimize generalizeability, subjects with PEA-BP (n = 93) and ADHD (n = 81) were consecutively ascertained from pediatric and psychiatric sites. Subjects in the NC group (n = 94) were obtained from a random survey. PEA-BP was defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition) mania with at least one of the cardinal symptoms of mania (i.e., elation and/or grandiosity) to avoid diagnosing mania only by criteria that overlapped with those for ADHD. All subjects received comprehensive, blind research assessments of mothers about their children and separately of children about themselves. Assessment instruments included the Washington University in St. Louis Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (WASH-U-KSADS) and the Life Events Checklist. Data from the Life Events Checklist were examined by total life events and by subcategories of dependent, independent, or uncertain relationships to the child.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total, independent, dependent, and uncertain life events were all significantly more frequent in the PEA-BP subjects compared to both the ADHD and NC groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because there was no a priori reason to expect significantly more independent life events in the PEA-BP compared to the ADHD and NC groups, these results warrant further research into the role of life events in the onset of PEA-BP.
authors.affiliation: Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tillman
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nickelsburg
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bolhofner
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Craney
authors.forename: Melissa P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: DelBello
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wigh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012727:Sex Characteristics