title: Correlates of psychiatric co-morbidity in a sample of Egyptian patients with bipolar disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex, chronic mood disorder involving repeated episodes of depression and mania/hypomania. Two thirds of patients with bipolar disorder have a comorbid psychiatric condition. This study aims to assess the prevalence of Axis I diagnosis with its socio-demographic and clinical correlates among a sample of Egyptian patients with bipolar disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Out of the 400 patients who were enrolled in the study from number of governmental and private psychiatric hospitals in Cairo, Egypt, 350 patients diagnosed with bipolar affective disorders (157 females and 193 males) with age ranging from 18 to 55years were selected. Patients were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorder (Research Version) (SCID-I).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity among BD patients was 20.3% (71 patients) among which 63 patients (18%) had comorbid substance abuse and 8 patients (2.3%) had comorbid anxiety disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study was limited by its cross sectional design with some patients having florid symptoms during assessment, not having a well representative community sample. This might have decreased the reliability and prevalence of lifetime psychiatric comorbidity due to uncooperativeness or memory bias. The study group was composed of bipolar patients attending tertiary care service which limits the possibility of generalizing these results on different treatment settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substance abuse followed by anxiety disorders was found to be the most common psychiatric comorbidity. Family history of psychiatric disorders and substance abuse as well as current psychotic features were highly correlated with comorbidity.
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Tarek
authors: T
authors: Asaad
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Tarek
authors: T
authors: Okasha
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Hisham
authors: H
authors: Ramy
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Mohamed
authors: M
authors: Fekry
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Nivert
authors: N
authors: Zaki
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Hanan
authors: H
authors: Azzam
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: menan74@yahoo.com.
authors: Menan AbdelMaksoud
authors: MA
authors: Rabie
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Soheir
authors: S
authors: Elghoneimy
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Marwa
authors: M
authors: Sultan
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Hani
authors: H
authors: Hamed
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Osama
authors: O
authors: Refaat
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Iman
authors: I
authors: Shorab
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Mahmoud
authors: M
authors: Elhabiby
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Tamer
authors: T
authors: Elgweily
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Hanan
authors: H
authors: ElShinnawy
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Mohamed
authors: M
authors: Nasr
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Heba
authors: H
authors: Fathy
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Marwa A
authors: MA
authors: Meguid
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Doaa
authors: D
authors: Nader
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Doha
authors: D
authors: Elserafi
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Cairo University, Egypt.
authors: Dalia
authors: D
authors: Enaba
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Dina
authors: D
authors: Ibrahim
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Marwa
authors: M
authors: Elmissiry
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Nesreen
authors: N
authors: Mohsen
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, PO Box: 11657, Cairo, Egypt.
authors: Sherin
authors: S
authors: Ahmed
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Bipolar disorder; Comorbidity; Substance abuse