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.

Does age at onset have clinical significance in older adults with bipolar disorder?

Chu D, Gildengers AG, Houck PR, Anderson SJ, Mulsant BH, Reynolds CF, Kupfer DJ

Advanced Center for Intervention and Services Research for Late-Life Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA, USA.

OBJECTIVE: While age at onset may be useful in explaining some of the heterogeneity of bipolar disorder (BD) in large, mixed age groups, investigations to date have found few meaningful clinical differences between early versus late age at onset in older adults with BD. METHODS: Data were collected from sixty-one subjects aged 60 years and older, mean (SD) age 67.6 (7.0), with BD I (75%) and II (25%). Subjects were grouped by early (<40 years; n = 43) versus late (>/=40 years; n = 18) age at onset. Early versus late onset groups were compared on psychiatric comorbidity, medical burden, and percentage of days well during study participation. RESULTS: Except for family history of major psychiatric illnesses, there were no differences between the groups on demographic or clinical variables. Patients with early and late onset experienced similar percentages of days well; however, those with early onset had slightly more percentage of days depressed than those with late onset (22% versus 13%) CONCLUSION: Distinguishing older adults with BD by early or late age at onset has limited clinical usefulness. Copyright (c) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Published 18 January 2010 in Int J Geriatr Psychiatry.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2013 Bipolar Research Today. All Rights Reserved.