Lithium, valproate, and carbamazepine prescribing patterns for long-term treatment of bipolar I and II disorders: A prospective study.

Objective: This study aims to describe the prescription patterns of the mood stabilizers most commonly used for the treatment of bipolar I and II disorders (lithium, valproate, and carbamazepine) and to analyze the treatment outcomes.

Methods: Two hundred and thirty-four outpatients with bipolar disorders receiving prophylactic treatment with lithium, valproate, carbamazepine, or their combination were followed up for at least 18 months in two Italian psychiatric centers specialized in mood disorders.

Results: The combination of lithium and valproate or carbamazepine was the most common prophylactic treatment (54.

Predictors of recurrence during long-term treatment of bipolar I and II disorders. A 4 year prospective naturalistic study.

Background: Despite the large number of treatments available for bipolar disorder (BD), more than one half of patients have a recurrence within 2 years, and over 90% experience at least one additional affective episode during their lifetime.

Methods: The aim of this study was to test the impact of a number of demographic and clinical features on the risk to recurrence in a real- word representative sample of 266 outpatients with BD-I or II treated in a naturalistic setting during a 4-years-follow-up period.

Results: We found that the number of episodes per year after study entry, compared to the number of episodes per year before study entry,significantly decreased and that about one third of patients had no recurrences during the observation period.

Serum uric acid levels and different phases of illness in bipolar I patients treated with lithium.

Recent findings support the role of purinergic system dysfunction in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). The present study aimed to evaluate the pattern of serum uric acid levels in a sample of 98 BD I patients followed-up prospectively in a naturalistic study and treated with lithium monotherapy or in association with other mood stabilizers (valproate or carbamazepine), in relation to different phases of illness and to pharmacological treatment. The results showed that uric acid levels were significantly higher in patients suffering from a manic/mixed episode, than in those euthymic or during a depressive phase.

Prescribing patterns of lithium or lithium+valproate in manic or mixed episodes: a naturalistic study.

The present study aimed to identify the prescribing patterns of lithium or of lithium+valproate in 75 bipolar I outpatients in a manic or a mixed phase within a naturalistic setting. The differences between the two treatments and the correlation between serum lithium levels and response were also examined. The results showed that patients with lithium levels of 0.

[Long-term treatment of bipolar disorder: how should we use lithium salts?].

Unlabelled: Despite the great quantity of evidence supporting the efficacy of lithium in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder (BD), its use has often been limited because of issues about the management of this compound. W aimed to evaluate the use of lithium in common clinical practice and to identify possible relationships between the trend over time of serum lithium levels and clinical course of the illness.

Methods: 98 patients with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder (DSM-IV-TR) on maintenance treatment with lithium salts were recruited and followed up in a naturalistic trial at the Day Hospital of Psychiatric Clinic of Pisa.

Adult separation anxiety in patients with complicated grief versus healthy control subjects: relationships with lifetime depressive and hypomanic symptoms.

Background: Around 9% to 20% of bereaved individuals experience symptoms of complicated grief (CG) that are associated with significant distress and impairment. A major issue is whether CG represents a distinctive nosographic entity, independent from other mental disorders, particularly major depression (MD), and the role of symptoms of adult separation anxiety. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical features of patients with CG versus a sample of healthy control subjects, with particular focus on adult separation anxiety and lifetime mood spectrum symptoms.