Correction of depression-associated circadian rhythm abnormalities is associated with lithium response in bipolar disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by episodes of depression and mania and disrupted circadian rhythms. Lithium is an effective therapy for BD, but only 30%-40% of patients are fully responsive. Preclinical models show that lithium alters circadian rhythms.

Clinical predictors of non-response to lithium treatment in the Pharmacogenomics of Bipolar Disorder (PGBD) study.

Background: Lithium is regarded as a first-line treatment for bipolar disorder (BD), but partial response and non-response commonly occurs. There exists a need to identify lithium non-responders prior to initiating treatment. The Pharmacogenomics of Bipolar Disorder (PGBD) Study was designed to identify predictors of lithium response.

Blue-blocking glasses as additive treatment for mania: Effects on actigraphy-derived sleep parameters.

Improvement of sleep is a central treatment goal for patients in a manic state. Blue-blocking (BB) glasses as adjunctive treatment hasten overall recovery from mania. This method is an evolvement from dark therapy and builds on the discovery of the blue-light-sensitive retinal ganglion cell that signals daytime to the brain.

Chronotype and cellular circadian rhythms predict the clinical response to lithium maintenance treatment in patients with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious mood disorder associated with circadian rhythm abnormalities. Risk for BD is genetically encoded and overlaps with systems that maintain circadian rhythms. Lithium is an effective mood stabilizer treatment for BD, but only a minority of patients fully respond to monotherapy.

Remifentanil as an adjunct to anaesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy fails to confer long-term benefits.

Background: Adding the μ-opioid receptor agonist remifentanil to agents used to induce general anaesthesia in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can reduce the required doses of induction agents and their unfavourable effects on seizure threshold and quality. However, whether remifentanil has favourable long-term treatment effects in terms of response and remission rates, speed of response and remission, and side-effects has not been studied.

Methods: This retrospective, register-based cohort study involved patients with major depression consecutively treated at two units at different hospitals in Norway with the same ECT procedure.

Right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy does not cause more cognitive impairment than pharmacologic treatment in treatment-resistant bipolar depression: A 6-month randomized controlled trial follow-up study.

Objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy is an effective treatment for bipolar depression, but there are concerns about whether it causes long-term neurocognitive impairment.

Methods: In this multicenter randomized controlled trial, in-patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression were randomized to either algorithm-based pharmacologic treatment or right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. After the 6-week treatment period, all of the patients received maintenance pharmacotherapy as recommended by their clinician guided by a relevant treatment algorithm.

Blue-blocking glasses as additive treatment for mania: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Objectives: The discovery of the blue lightsensitive retinal photoreceptor responsible for signaling daytime to the brain suggested that light to the circadian system could be inhibited by using blue-blocking orange tinted glasses. Blue-blocking (BB) glasses are a potential treatment option for bipolar mania. We examined the effectiveness of BB glasses in hospitalized patients with bipolar disorder in a manic state.

The effect of electroconvulsive therapy on neurocognitive function in treatment-resistant bipolar disorder depression.

Objective: To compare the effects of right unilateral (RUL) electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and algorithm-based pharmacologic treatment (APT) on neurocognitive function in treatment-resistant bipolar disorder depression.

Method: Inpatients with DSM-IV-TR-diagnosed, treatment-resistant bipolar depression, who were acutely admitted to 1 of the 7 clinical study centers in Norway, were recruited from May 2008 to April 2011 into a prospective, randomized controlled, 6-week acute treatment trial. General neurocognitive function was assessed with the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), and retrograde memory for autobiographical events was assessed with the Autobiographical Memory Interview-Short Form (AMI-SF) before and shortly after (mean = 23.

Treatment-resistant bipolar depression: a randomized controlled trial of electroconvulsive therapy versus algorithm-based pharmacological treatment.

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is regarded by many clinicians as the most effective treatment for treatment-resistant bipolar depression, but no randomized controlled trials have been conducted, to the authors' knowledge. They compared efficacy measures of ECT and algorithm-based pharmacological treatment in treatment-resistant bipolar depression.

Method: This multicenter, randomized controlled trial was carried out at seven acute-care psychiatric inpatient clinics throughout Norway and included 73 bipolar disorder patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Neurocognitive profiles in treatment-resistant bipolar I and bipolar II disorder depression.

Background: The literature on the neuropsychological profiles in Bipolar disorder (BD) depression is sparse. The aims of the study were to assess the neurocognitive profiles in treatment-resistant, acutely admitted BD depression inpatients, to compare the neurocognitive functioning in patients with BD I and II, and to identify the demographic and clinical illness characteristics associated with cognitive functioning.

Methods: Acutely admitted BD I (n = 19) and BD II (n = 32) inpatients who fulfilled the DSM-IV-TR criteria for a major depressive episode were tested with the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, the National Adult Reading Test, and a battery of clinical measures.

Occupational outcome in bipolar disorder is not predicted by premorbid functioning and intelligence.

Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD), over the long term, can manifest a variety of outcomes depending on a number of different conditions. There is a need for further knowledge regarding preventive factors as well as predictors of the disabling course of the disorder. Studies regarding the impact on functional outcome of premorbid and current general intellectual function [intelligence quotient (IQ)] and premorbid functioning in BD patients are sparse.

Despite clinical differences, bipolar disorder patients from acute wards and outpatient clinics have similar educational and disability levels compared to the general population.

Background: The aims of this study were to compare clinical characteristics and educational and occupational functioning in two Bipolar Disorder (BD) samples recruited respectively from acutely admitted inpatients and public outpatient clinics and to investigate if the two BD samples differed in the same way in education and work ability from the general population.

Methods: DSM-IV BD patients were consecutively recruited from acute wards throughout Norway (N=252; 69.8% BD I; 25.

Bipolar disorder patients have similar levels of education but lower socio-economic status than the general population.

Background: There is conflicting evidence regarding the educational level and its importance for social and occupational functioning in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to investigate how educational achievement relates to function in BD compared with the general population, and which clinical factors are associated with level of education.

Methods: Hospitalized patients with DSM-IV BD (N=257; 69.