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.

A prospective open-label treatment trial of ziprasidone monotherapy in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder.

Biederman J, Mick E, Spencer T, Dougherty M, Aleardi M, Wozniak J

Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Department, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and tolerability of ziprasidone for treating pediatric mania. Methods: This was an eight-week, open-label, prospective study of ziprasidone monotherapy (57.3 +/- 33.9 mg/day) in 21 bipolar youth [manic, mixed, or bipolar not otherwise specified (NOS); 6-17 years old]. Assessments included the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale (CGI-I), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Adverse events were assessed through spontaneous self-reports, vital signs, weight monitoring, and laboratory analysis. Results: Fourteen of the 21 youth (67%) completed the study. Ziprasidone treatment was associated with clinically and statistically significant improvement in mean YMRS scores (-10.8 +/- 8.4, p < 0.0001) and 57% had a CGI-I </=2 at endpoint. Ziprasidone was well tolerated with no statistically significant increase in body weight (0.6 +/- 0.4 kg, p = 0.2) or QTc interval (-3.7 +/- 4.7, p = 0.5). Conclusions: Open-label ziprasidone treatment was associated with a significant short-term improvement of symptoms of pediatric bipolar disorder. Future placebo-controlled, double-blind studies are warranted.

Published 13 December 2007 in Bipolar Disord, 9(8): 888-94.
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