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.

Preschool Bipolar Disorder: Brazilian children case reports.

Ferreira Maia AP, Boarati MA, Kleinman A, Fu-I L

University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service, Institute of Psychiatry Alameda Ministro Rocha Azevedo, 4 Sao Paulo, SP 01410-000, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the clinical phenomenology and family history of preschool age onset Bipolar Disorder (BD). METHODS: Eight children and adolescents out of 118 cases (6.78%), both genders, meeting current DSM-IV criteria diagnosis of BD were described. The clinical assessment, CBCL, DICA-IV and CGAS were performed directly with each patient and their parents. RESULTS: Most (87.5%) presented classical symptoms of mania: euphoria, grandiosity, irritability, psychomotor agitation and agitated sleep or, in the same proportion, sleeplessness. Hyperactivity and increase of energy were found in all eight cases. The clinical course varied from a rapid, ultra-rapid, ultradian cycle to a continued pattern. Five out of eight children (62.5%) presented aggressiveness toward others and one deliberate self-harm. Most (87.5%) had psychiatric family history. The average number of medications used during their life was 4.5 drugs. LIMITATION: The small sample and retrospective reports of the first manic symptoms in three of the cases (cases V, VI and VII). CONCLUSION: An important incidence of classical manic features was found in very young children. The clinical course tended to be continuous, and preschool BD seems to have a strong association with affective disorder family history.

Published 12 November 2007 in J Affect Disord, 104(1): 237-43.
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