Family history of a mood disorder indicates a more severe bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
In the clinical setting, patients with bipolar disorder (BD) are often asked about potential family history (FH) of mood disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine differences between BD patients with FH of a mood disorder, and those without, on clinical, personality and social functioning characteristics, as well as on the symptomatic course of the disorder.


METHODS
Data was collected from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD). For this report, we included 2600 patients, 1963 of those reported having a first-degree family member with a mood disorder, and 637 reported of no such FH. We investigated the impact of FH on socio-demographic, clinical, personality and quality of life variables, as well as on symptomatology during the first year of treatment.


RESULTS
Patients reporting FH of a mood disorder had an earlier age at onset of depression/mania, more phases, rapid cycling and more suicide attempts. Across different assessments, patients with FH showed consistently elevated depressive symptoms, such as lower concentration and energy, higher suicidal ideation, as well as increased racing thoughts and distractibility within the manic spectrum of symptoms. Further, the FH group had lower quality of life, higher neuroticism and higher personality disorder scores compared to patients without FH.


CONCLUSIONS
Information on FH was obtained through the proband.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, BD patients reporting FH of a mood disorder showed a worse clinical profile upon presentation for treatment and a more symptomatic course of the disorder.
Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Carlo Pepoli 5, 40123 Bologna, Italy.
Niki
N
Antypa
Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Carlo Pepoli 5, 40123 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.serretti@unibo.it.
Alessandro
A
Serretti
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D057566:Self Report
Clinical; Family history; Personality; Quality of life; STEP-BD; Symptoms