title: Pharmacological response in juvenile bipolar disorder subtypes: A naturalistic retrospective examination.
abstract: This study reports on the naturalistic pharmacotherapy of 266 youths with bipolar disorder (BP), manic or hypomanic episode (158 males and 108 females, 13.8+/-2.8 years), first treated with monotherapy on valproic acid (VPA) (n=158, 59.4%), lithium (n=90, 33.8%) or atypical antipsychotics (n=18, 6.8%). Among the patients receiving mood stabilizers, 59.5% of those treated with VPA and 47.8% of those receiving lithium did not need other antimanic agents (mood stabilizers and/or atypical antipsychotics). Lower severity was associated with a greater persistence of both VPA and lithium monotherapy. Factors associated with greater persistence of VPA monotherapy were BP II and co-occurring generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and simple phobias. On the contrary, BP I and co-occurring psychotic symptoms and/or conduct disorder were associated with a lower persistence of VPA monotherapy. Factors associated with lower persistence of lithium monotherapy were younger age and the association with attention deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD). Type of BP and presence of psychotic symptoms and conduct disorder did not affect the lithium monotherapy. Overall, predictors of non-response (multiple stepwise logistic regression) in both VPA and lithium groups were baseline Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Severity score and comorbid conduct disorder; while psychotic symptoms and absence of comorbid generalized anxiety disorder were predictors of poorer treatment response only in the VPA group, and chronic course, comorbid ADHD and absence of comorbid panic disorder were predictors only in the lithium group. Such naturalistic data from an ordinary clinical setting have relevance to clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Stella Maris, Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Via dei Giacinti 2, 56018 Calambrone (Pisa), Italy. gabriele.masi@inpe.unipi.it
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Masi
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perugi
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Millepiedi
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mucci
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pfanner
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berloffa
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pari
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gagliano
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: Hagop S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Akiskal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014635:Valproic Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D018692:Antimanic Agents; D014635:Valproic Acid; D018021:Lithium Chloride