A Study of Biological Rhythm Disturbances in Polish Remitted Bipolar Patients using the BRIAN, CSM, and SWPAQ Scales.
OBJECTIVE
The Biological Rhythms Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN) is a novel tool allowing for a complex assessment of biological rhythms. We compared patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and healthy control subjects (HC) using the Polish version of the BRIAN scale.


METHODS
Fifty-four remitted BD patients (17 males and 37 females aged 52 ± 13 years) and 54 healthy control subjects (25 males and 29 females aged 42 ± 14 years) were studied. In addition to the BRIAN scale, the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) and the Sleep-Wake Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SWPAQ) were employed.


RESULTS
The Polish version of the BRIAN scale displayed high feasibility and consistency, showing that the patients had greater biological rhythm disturbances than the controls. After regression analysis, significant differences were obtained for the BRIAN subscales activity and predominant chronotype, and for the SWPAQ items quality of night-time sleep and ability to stay awake. We obtained positive correlations between higher BRIAN scores and morningness and eveningness, but the correlations with vigilance and the ability to stay awake (on the SWPAQ) were negative.


CONCLUSIONS
Using the BRIAN scale, we confirmed the greater disturbances of biological rhythm in Polish remitted bipolar patients, compared with healthy controls. The differences between these 2 groups in sleep-awake patterns were also demonstrated by the SWPAQ scores. In contrast to other studies, we were unable to confirm an evening chronotype as a discriminating factor between remitted bipolar patients and healthy subjects. This can be explained by the older age and the use of lithium by a significant proportion of the patients.
Department of Adult Psychiatry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
Ewa
E
Dopierala
Adrian
A
Chrobak
Flavio
F
Kapczinski
Michał
M
Michalak
Anna
A
Tereszko
Ewa
E
Ferensztajn-Rochowiak
Dominika
D
Dudek
Jan
J
Jaracz
Marcin
M
Siwek
Janusz K
JK
Rybakowski
D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D021081:Chronobiology Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012074:Remission Induction; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014177:Translations