The course of bipolar disorder in rural India.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the naturalistic course of bipolar disorder in a rural, community-based, partially treated cohort.


METHODS
All patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder during an epidemiological survey (n=34) in a rural area in India were followed longitudinally using standardized instruments, and the life-chart method used to examine their course.


RESULTS
Seven (26%) of the 27 patients evaluated directly had not received any treatment whatsoever. Four patients (15%) had experienced rapid-cycling at some time; patients without rapid-cycling had experienced a mean 0.22 episodes/year. Episodes of mania accounted for 72% of all episodes. None of the variables examined appeared to predict the total number of episodes experienced by individual patients, although rapid-cycling occurred significantly more often if the patients had not received any psychopharmacological treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
A mania-predominant course was observed in this small cohort, similar to reports from other developing countries.
Chopra
Mohit P
MP
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bangalore 560029, Karnataka.
Kishore Kumar
K V
KV
Subbakrishna
D K
DK
Jain
Sanjeev
S
Murthy
R Srinivasa
RS