Bipolar Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Bipolar, including details on bipolar disorder, symptoms, treatment, depression, medication.

Gender differences in bipolar disorder type 1: a 48-week prospective follow-up of 72 patients treated in an italian tertiary care center.

Benedetti A, Fagiolini A, Casamassima F, Mian MS, Adamovit A, Musetti L, Lattanzi L, Cassano GB

Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Biotechnology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

To explore gender differences in bipolar I disorder, we compared the longitudinal treatment outcome and baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of 27 male and 45 female adult subjects who were treated for an acute affective episode and longitudinally followed for a period of up to 48 weeks. Females were more likely to report a history of suicidal gestures and a comorbid panic disorder; males were more likely to present with a comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder, and there was a trend for a more frequent history of alcohol or substance abuse. No significant differences were found between the genders for the time to remission from the index episode, number of recurrences, and time spent with any clinical or subclinical mood symptom during the 48 weeks of maintenance treatment. Although differences may exist between bipolar I male and female subjects, prospective course does not seem to reveal differences in a 48-week period, at least when similar treatment strategies are adopted.

Published 15 January 2007 in J Nerv Ment Dis, 195(1): 93-6.
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