Depressive symptoms in early- and late-onset older bipolar patients compared with younger ones.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine clinical and outcome differences between older bipolar patients with early onset (EO) and late onset (LO) of the illness and between younger and EO older patients with a bipolar disorder under long-term treatment in an outpatient clinical setting.

Methods: Three hundred ninety-five bipolar I and II outpatients were followed up for up to 7.7 years.

Pharmacogenetic study of second-generation antipsychotic long-term treatment metabolic side effects (the SLiM Study): rationale, objectives, design and sample description.

Aim: Weight gain is an important and common side effect of second generation antipsychotics (SGAs). Furthermore, these drugs can induce other side effects associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, such as insulin resistance, diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Preliminary studies show that inter-individual genetic differences produce varying degrees of vulnerability to the different SGA-induced side effects.

Seasonality, smoking and history of poor treatment compliance are strong predictors of dropout in a naturalistic 6 year follow-up of bipolar patients.

Bipolar disorder is a highly recurrent disease which requires long-term treatment. Dropout is a major problem, poorly understood. The objectives of this study were to know the risk of dropout of a cohort of bipolar patients under ambulatory treatment and to identify the clinical profile of patients more likely to abandon the follow-up.

Understanding bipolar disorder in late life: clinical and treatment correlates of a sample of elderly outpatients.

The aim of this study was to examine the demographic, clinical, and treatment correlates of bipolar disorder (BD) in outpatients 65 years or older and to compare patients with BD subtype I (BD-I) versus BD subtype II (BD-II) and patients with early onset (EO; <=50 years old) versus late onset (LO; >50 years old) of the illness. Sixty-nine consecutive outpatients with BD were included. Diagnosis was delayed for a mean of 14.

[Variables associated with disability in elderly bipolar patients on ambulatory treatment].

Introduction: Studies on adult bipolar patients have demonstrated a disability associated with the bipolar disorder, even in euthymic patients, but there is a lack of data in the elderly population.

Material And Method: A cross-sectional, multicentre study on a consecutive sample of ambulatory bipolar patients (DSM-IV-TR criteria), aged 65 years or over. Retrospective and cross-sectional sociodemographic and clinical data were collected, as well as the Clinical Global Impression for Bipolar Modified scale (CGI-BP-M) and the level of disability using the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO/DAS).

[Diagnostic delay and differences by sex and clinical subtype in a cohort of outpatients with bipolar disorder].

Introduction: We describe the clinical and sociodemographic features at baseline of a cohort of bipolar patients included in a prospective study.

Methods: A total of 296 consecutive outpatients with bipolar disorder were recruited. Diagnosis relied on clinical judgment according to DSM-IV-TR criteria and the semi-structured MINI Interview.

Clinical and psychosocial factors associated with the outcome of unipolar major depression: a one year prospective study.

Background: The role of psychosocial and clinical variables in the prediction of major depression is controversial. In a previous paper, we obtained a one-year predictive multivariate model of non-remission for major depression, based on the presence of a personality disorder, a low self-esteem and a low satisfaction with social support.

Objectives: To evaluate more in depth both personality disorders and psychosocial variables as predictors of outcome.