Purificación López

First episode in bipolar disorder: misdiagnosis and psychotic symptoms

BACKGROUND This study explores factors that can influence other psychotic diagnoses in the first episode of a DSM-III-R bipolar disorder. METHODS It includes all 163 bipolar in-patients and out-patients in the state of Alava, North of Spain (Basque country) from February 1994 to May 1996. Patients were divided into two non-overlapping groups: unstable diagnoses, bipolars with an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia (or other psychosis), and stable diagnoses of bipolar disorder. RESULTS A logistic regression analysis using marital status, age at onset and mood incongruent psychotic symptoms found that the latter was the only independent factor significantly associated with an unstable diagnosis.

Poor Long-Term Prognosis in Mixed Bipolar Patients: 10-Year Outcomes in the Vitoria Prospective Naturalistic Study in Spain

OBJECTIVE There have been few prospective long-term naturalistic studies of patients with mixed episodes of bipolar disorder. The aim of this study was to examine 10-year outcomes in patients with at least 1 mixed episode. METHOD A naturalistic sample of bipolar I disorder patients (n = 120), representative of bipolar patients treated in a catchment area of Spain, was followed prospectively for up to 10 years. Outcomes including number (primary study outcome) and severity of episodes, hospitalizations, and suicide attempts were recorded at bimonthly visits. Bivariate and logistic regression models identified factors significantly associated with mixed episodes. The study was conducted from 1994 through 2004. RESULTS 37% of patients had mixed episodes. Mixed-episode patients had younger mean age at onset compared with the nonmixed group (25.3 vs 30.8 years; P = .025). After adjusting for age at onset, mixed-episode patients had an increased risk of hospitalization compared with the nonmixed group (OR = 2.86; 95% CI, 1.09-7.52; P = .033) and more episodes (OR = 1.21; 95% CI, 1.10-1.31; P < .001). Other differences between mixed and nonmixed patients, such as alcohol abuse, psychotic symptoms, and suicidality, were partially mediated by age at onset and were not significantly different after controlling for this variable. Mixed-episode patients with previous suicide attempts had a significantly shorter time to first suicide attempt during follow-up than those without history of suicide attempts (P = .014). CONCLUSIONS Although some factors associated with mixed episodes are mediated by a younger age at onset, the long-term prognosis of mixed-episode patients is worse than patients with nonmixed episodes.

Different profile of substance abuse in relation to predominant polarity in bipolar disorder: The Vitoria long-term follow-up study

BACKGROUND There is a need for comparisons of long-term outcomes in bipolar disorder patients with predominantly manic symptoms vs. predominantly depressive symptoms, especially the course of comorbid alcohol/substance abuse. METHOD A naturalistic sample of bipolar I patients (n=120) was followed prospectively for up to 10years. At baseline, number and polarity of past episodes were used to classify patients as predominantly manic or predominantly depressive if there were more manic or more depressive episodes, respectively. 25 patients were excluded from the analyses. Outcomes including episodes, hospitalisations and suicide attempts were recorded at bimonthly visits. Mixed effects models compared the course of alcohol and other substance abuse in predominantly manic vs. depressive patients. RESULTS Of the 95 patients analyzed, 44 (46.3%) had predominantly manic episodes and 51 (53.7%) had predominantly depressive episodes. At baseline, the predominantly depressive group had more history of suicide attempts (45.1% vs. 20.5%; p=0.021) and more family history of affective disorders (64.7% vs. 38.6%; p=0.020), but they had fewer previous hospitalisations than the manic group (mean 0.38 vs. 0.50; p=0.025). During the 10-year follow-up, the predominantly depressive group was associated with more episodes (p=0.001), more hospitalisations (p=0.004) and more suicide attempts (p=0.002). At baseline, there were no differences between the manic and depressive groups in the frequency of alcohol abuse (43.2% and 35.3%, p=0.565) or other substance abuse (13.6% and 9.8%, p=0.794). During the 10-year follow-up, the frequency of alcohol and other substance abuse decreased significantly in the manic group only, after controlling by age at onset and civil (marital) status. CONCLUSION Long-term clinical outcomes differ between predominantly manic vs. depressive bipolar patients, with the predominantly depressive group having a worse prognosis and maintained alcohol and other substance abuse. These differences should be considered when designing treatment approaches for bipolar patients with comorbid alcohol/substance abuse.

In-patient care costs of patients with bipolar I disorder: A comparison between two European centers

BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a disabling disease with high morbidity rates. An international (Spain, France) comparative study about hospitalizations and in-patient care costs associated with BPD I was performed. Centers were included if they had access to a database of computerized patient charts exhaustively covering a defined catchment area. METHODS Economic evaluation was performed by multiplying the average cumulated annual length of stay (LOS) of hospitalized bipolar patients by a full cost per day of hospitalization in each center to obtain the corresponding annual costs. RESULTS Hospitalization rates per annum and per 100,000 individuals (general population aged 15+) were similar between France (43.6) and Spain (43.1). There were only slight differences in relation to length of stay (LOS) per patient hospitalized with 18.1 days in Spain and 20.4 days in France. The overall estimated annual hospitalization costs were in the same order of magnitude after adjustment to an adult population of 100,000: euro 232,000 (Spain) and euro 226,500 (France). Mixed episodes had the longest LOS followed by depressive episodes, while manic episodes had the shortest ones. Mania was the most costly disorder representing 53.7% of annual BPD in-patient care costs. CONCLUSIONS BPD I care requires large resources and frequent hospitalizations, especially during manic episodes. Depressive and mixed episodes require longer hospital stays than manic episodes. Out-patient costs should now be evaluated.

Adherence to Antipsychotic Medication in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenic Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract Antipsychotics are the drugs prescribed to treat psychotic disorders; however, patients often fail to adhere to their treatment, and this has a severe negative effect on prognosis in these kinds of illnesses. Among the wide range of risk factors for treatment nonadherence, this systematic review covers those that are most important from the point of view of clinicians and patients and proposes guidelines for addressing them. Analyzing 38 studies conducted in a total of 51,796 patients, including patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder, we found that younger age, substance abuse, poor insight, cognitive impairments, low level of education, minority ethnicity, poor therapeutic alliance, experience of barriers to care, high intensity of delusional symptoms and suspiciousness, and low socioeconomic status are the main risk factors for medication nonadherence in both types of disorder. In the future, prospective studies should be conducted on the use of personalized patient-tailored treatments, taking into account risk factors that may affect each individual, to assess the ability of such approaches to improve adherence and hence prognosis in these patients.

Prescripción de benzodiacepinas y caídas en mujeres y hombres ancianos

OBJECTIVE Despite cautions by professional associations, benzodiazepines (BZD) and Z hypnotics (BZD/Z) are widely prescribed to older adults who are particularly susceptible to insomnia and anxiety, but who are also more sensitive to drugs adverse events. In this study, we assessed the prescription of BZD/Z drugs in a sample of older adults (≥65) who presented for emergency care after a fall. METHODS We collected the type, number and dose of BZD/Z drugs prescribed and explored gender differences in the prescription. RESULTS BZD/Z drugs were prescribed to 43.6% of the sample (n=654) and more frequently to women; 78.4% of prescriptions were for BZD/Z drugs with a short half-life. The majority of patients (83.5%) were prescribed only one type of BZD/Z, but 16.5% had been prescribed multiple BZD/Z drugs, with no gender difference. Doses higher than those recommended for older adults were prescribed to 58% of patients, being the doses significantly higher for men compared to women (70.0% vs 53.1%). CONCLUSIONS Over 40% of older adults presenting for emergency care after a fall had previously been prescribed BZD/Z drugs. Some important gender differences in the prescription of BZD/Z drugs were seen, especially prescription above the recommended dose and of drugs with a long-half life.

Implicaciones clínicas de la edad de inicio del trastorno bipolar I: dos subgrupos con diferente pronóstico

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Age at onset in bipolar disorder is related to prognosis and to treatment response. However, it is not clear if there are three or two subgroups in relation to age at onset. The objective of this study is to analyze the number of subgroups in relation to age at the beginning of the disease in a representative sample of bipolar I patients and to compare the subgroups in relation to clinical variables. METHOD We included 169 patients diagnosed with bipolar I disorder. Normal mixture analysis was performed. The subgroups of patients formed above were compared regarding clinical characteristics. Patients were followed-up during six years. RESULTS We found three ages at onset subgroups. The early onset group (18.2±2 years) included 34% of the patients. The second group (26.1±5.5 years) included 44% of the patients. The third group (50.9±9.1 years) included 22% of the patients. Early and intermediate onset groups were not significantly different, and had more family history of affective disorders, more psychotic symptoms, more history of suicide attempts and more history of drug abuse history than the late onset group. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that there are three groups of age at onset but early and intermediate groups are similar in relation to clinical variables. The late onset group includes almost a quartile of patients and has different clinical profile.

Psychometric properties and validation of a four-item version of the Strauss–Carpenter scale in bipolar disorder

BackgroundBipolar disorder is a chronic illness that impairs functioning and affects the quality of life of patients. The onset of this illness usually occurs at an early age, and the risk of relapse remains high for decades. Thus, due to the great clinical relevance of identifying long-term predictors of functioning in bipolar disorder, Strauss and Carpenter developed a scale composed of items known to have prognostic value.Methods To determine the clinical usefulness of the four-item Strauss–Carpenter scale in bipolar disorder, a 1-year prospective follow-up study was carried out. The internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and test–retest reliability of the scale were assessed. We also compared the Strauss–Carpenter scale with the reference scales Global Assessment Functioning (GAF), Clinical Global Impression for Bipolar Disorder, the Modified Version (CGI-BIP-M) and the Sheehan Disability Scale (Sheehan). Additionally, a cut-off point for remission was established.ResultsThe total sample was composed of 98 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. The four-item version of the Strauss–Carpenter scale showed to have appropriate psychometric properties, comparable to those of reference scales. The best cut-off point for remission was 14.ConclusionsThe four-item version of the Strauss–Carpenter scale has suitable validity and reliability for the assessment of functioning in patients with bipolar disorder.

Smoking does not impact social and non-social cognition in patients with first episode psychosis

BACKGROUND Many studies having shown significant improvements in non-social and social cognitive performance in smoking FEP patients compared to non-smoking FEP patients. The findings are controversial. This study analyzed the effects of tobacco use on non-social and social cognitive function in a large group of FEP patients and a matched healthy control group. METHODS A sample of 335 patients with FEP and 253 healthy controls was divided into four subgroups: control tobacco users (CTU), control non-tobacco users (CNTU), patient tobacco users (PTU) and patient non-tobacco users (PNTU). Demographic variables, tobacco use variables (presence or absence, frequency and duration of tobacco use), neurocognitive (non-social) performance and social cognition were assessed. RESULTS Comparison of 4 subgroups in non-social cognitive function revealed significant differences after controlling for covariables in executive functions (F=13.45; p≤0.001) and working memory domains (F=4.30; p=0.005). CTU and CNTU subgroups scored higher in all the domains compared to the PTU and the PNTU subgroups respectively. Social cognitive function was also significantly different within the four subgroups, with control subgroups showing better social cognition than patient subgroups. Significant differences in the executive functions domain were observed when comparing PTU and CTU groups (F=19.60; p≤0.001). No significant differences were revealed in the comparison between the patient groups. CONCLUSIONS This large study suggests that tobacco use in FEP patients is not related to better non-social or social cognitive performance.

Overdosing of benzodiazepines/Z-drugs and falls in older adults: Costs for the health system

Introduction: Benzodiazepines and Z drugs (BZD/Z drugs) are commonly used for the treatment of insomnia and anxiety in older adults for long periods of time. Given the physiological and metabolic characteristics of this group of patients, they are more prone to the adverse effects of these drugs which include falls. The recommendations for use of BZD/Z drugs include the need to adjust the dose and select those with a short half‐life, to avoid adverse events, which as well as potentially affecting patient outcome, increase healthcare costs. In this study, we have evaluated the hospital‐related costs associated with falls in older adults who use BZD/Z drugs at doses higher than recommended for this age group. Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional observational study assessing the BZD/Z drug prescriptions of older adults attending the emergency department after a fall. Cost analysis was performed for cases in which the prescriptions exceeded the maximum recommended dose for this age group. Results: A total of 40.6% of the prescriptions recorded were higher than the defined daily dose in older adults (DDDolderadults). Of the 57 patients who used BZD/Z drugs at higher‐than‐recommended doses, 53 experienced trauma and 33 required hospitalisation. The costs associated with emergency department services, tests performed and hospitalisation amounted to &U20AC;1850/patient. Conclusions: Appropriate dosage of BZD/Z drugs in older adults could reduce both patient suffering and costs for the health system. HighlightsEvaluation of hospital‐related costs of the use of high doses of BZD/Z and falls in the elderlyThe costs associated with emergency department services, tests performed and hospitalisation amounted to &U20AC;1850/patient.Appropriate dosage of BZD/Z drugs in older adults could reduce both patient suffering and costs for the health system.