Real-world use of pharmacological treatments for incident bipolar disorder: A Finnish nationwide cohort study.

Background: Pharmacotherapy remains crucial for treating bipolar disorder (BD), but knowledge on the treatments actually used by newly diagnosed patients in real-world settings is sparse.

Methods: Individuals newly diagnosed with BD during 1996-2018, aged 15-65 years, were identified from national Finnish registers. The patients' use of different drug classes (mood stabilizers, antipsychotics and antidepressants) or combinations of these drug classes were followed from initial pharmacotherapy (first line) after BD diagnosis until the fifth line of treatment or until the two-year follow-up time ended.

Twenty-year medication use trends in first-episode bipolar disorder.

Objectives: To study the medication use patterns in patients newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD) in Finland during the past 20 years.

Methods: All persons diagnosed with BD between 1996 and 2018, aged 16-65 years, with no previous BD diagnosis were identified from nationwide Finnish registers (N = 26,395). The point prevalences of medication use were observed up until 5 years after the first diagnosis.