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. Of these, 213 younger (<50 years) and 88 older (>60 years) patients were included. In the older subsample, 50 EO patients (onset <50 years) versus 38 LO patients (≥50 years) were analyzed. Likewise, younger versus EO older patients were compared. RESULTS: The likelihood of LO older patients of being bipolar II was higher than for EO older patients. They were also diagnosed earlier than EO older patients. No other clinical differences at baseline and at the prospective follow-up were found. Compared with younger patients, EO older patients had more frequent depressive symptoms at baseline, suffered more major depressive episodes in the previous year and in the prospective follow-up, received more antidepressants at baseline, had higher rates of medical comorbid conditions and were less likely to be tobacco smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Older patients constitute a meaningful proportion of bipolar patients under treatment. EO older patients suffered significantly from more frequent depressive symptoms than younger ones. LO older patients were predominantly bipolar II. So as bipolar illness progressed, depressive symptomatology became more frequent and manic episodes were less severe. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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. The Second-generation antipsychotic Long-term treatment Metabolic side effects (SLiM) study aims to identify clinical, environmental and genetic factors that explain inter-individual differences in weight gain and metabolic changes in drug-naïve patients after six months of treatment with SGAs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The SLIM study is a multicenter, observational, six-month pharmacogenetic study where a cohort of 307 drug-naïve paediatric and adult patients (age range 8.8-90.1 years) and a cohort of 150 age- and sex- matched healthy controls (7.8-73.2 years) were recruited. RESULTS: This paper describes the rationale, objectives and design of the study and provides a description of the sample at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Results from the SLiM study will provide a better understanding of the clinical, environmental, and genetic factors involved in weight gain and metabolic disturbances associated with SGA treatment.

Estudio farmacogenético del tratamiento a largo plazo con antipsicóticos de segunda generación y sus efectos adversos metabólicos (Estudio SLiM): justificación, objetivos, diseño y descripción de la muestra / Pharmacogenetic study of second-generation antipsychotic long-term treatment metabolic side effects (the SLiM Study): rationale, objectives, design and sample description

Objetivo. El aumento de peso es un efecto secundario frecuente e importante de los antipsicóticos de segunda generación (ASG). Además, estos fármacos pueden inducir otros efectos secundarios que están asociados a un aumento de la morbimortalidad cardiovascular, tales como la resistencia a la insulina, la diabetes o el síndrome metabólico. Estudios preliminares indican que las diferencias genéticas interindividuales producen distintos grados de vulnerabilidad a los efectos secundarios inducidos por los ASG. El estudio SLiM (por sus siglas en inglés, Second-generation antipsychotic Long-term treatment Metabolic side effects) tiene como objetivo identificar en pacientes no tratados previamente con ASG (pacientes naive), aquellos factores clínicos, genéticos y ambientales que expliquen las diferencias interindividuales en relación con el aumento de peso y los cambios metabólicos generados tras 6 meses de tratamiento con estos fármacos. Material y métodos. El estudio SLiM es un estudio farmacogenético multicéntrico, observacional, prospectivo, de 6 meses de duración, en el que se ha reclutado una cohorte de 307 pacientes pediátricos y adultos (rango de edad entre 8,8 a 90,1 años) naive a ASG y una cohorte de 150 controles sanos (rango de edad entre 7,8 y 73,2 años) emparejados por edad y sexo. Resultados. En este artículo se presentan la justificación, los objetivos y el diseño del estudio y se ofrece una descripción de la muestra al inicio del estudio. Conclusiones. Los resultados del estudio SLiM permitirán una mejor comprensión de los factores clínicos, ambientales y genéticos implicados en el aumento de peso y los trastornos metabólicos asociados al tratamiento con ASG (AU)

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. The Second-generation antipsychotic Long-term treatment Metabolic side effects (SLiM) study aims to identify clinical, environmental and genetic factors that explain inter-individual differences in weight gain and metabolic changes in drug-naïve patients after six months of treatment with SGAs. Materials and methods. The SLIM study is a multicenter, observational, six-month pharmacogenetic study where a cohort of 307 drug-naïve paediatric and adult patients (age range 8.8-90.1 years) and a cohort of 150 age- and sex- matched healthy controls (7.8-73.2 years) were recruited. Results. This paper describes the rationale, objectives and design of the study and provides a description of the sample at baseline. Conclusions. Results from the SLiM study will provide a better understanding of the clinical, environmental, and genetic factors involved in weight gain and metabolic disturbances associated with SGA treatment (AU)

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. A sample of 285 BD I and II patients was followed up for a mean of 2.87 years. A significant proportion of patients failed regular follow-up. The dropout rates were 6.3 % at three months, 12.7 % at 6 months, and 17.6, 27.2, 37.3, 44.0, 47.2 and 49.0 % at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 years respectively. Very few variables at baseline predicted dropout. Patients under 35 years of age were more likely to dropout than older cases. Seasonality, smoking and specially history of poor treatment compliance were strong predictors of dropout. Given the magnitude of dropout, additional early clinical interventions should be considered for high-risk patients.

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 14.1 years, significantly longer in patients with EO (18.6 years) than with LO (3.3 years). Mild to moderate depressive symptoms were detected in 29% of the patients. The patients were receiving a mean of 3 different psychotropic medications. Antidepressantswere more frequently prescribed to patients with BD-II than to patients with BD-I (75.80% vs. 48.60%) and to patients with EO (71.7%) than to LO (35.3%). Geriatric BD has similar clinical characteristics with those of younger ages, and these do not seem to greatly differ with subtype or age of onset.

Discapacidad en pacientes bipolares ancianos en tratamiento ambulatorio. Variables asociadas(AU) / Variables associated with disability in elderly bipolar patients on ambulatory treatment

Discapacidad en pacientes bipolares ancianos en tratamiento ambulatorio. Variables asociadas(AU)

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). The disability was assessed globally and by areas. The presence of a moderate to maximum disability compared to a mild to no disability was considered a dependent variable. Results. A moderate to maximum global disability was present in 43.6% of the sample. By areas, occupational functioning was the area most frequently affected, and personal care the least affected. The only variables which were associated with disability were the presence of medical comorbidity (P = .01), increased age (P = .005) global clinical severity (P = .0001) and in the depressive pole (P = .03). There was no relationship between clinical subtype, duration of the disease, number of previous episodes, number of hospitalisations, or other clinical variables and the degree of disability. Conclusions. These data underline the need to establish specific therapeutic strategies in the approach to depressive symptoms and medical comorbidity, with the aim of minimising the disability in elderly bipolar patients. Given the lack of current data, new studies are needed with larger samples and control groups(AU)

[Variables associated with disability in elderly bipolar patients on ambulatory treatment]. / Discapacidad en pacientes bipolares ancianos en tratamiento ambulatorio. Variables asociadas.

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). The disability was assessed globally and by areas. The presence of a moderate to maximum disability compared to a mild to no disability was considered a dependent variable. RESULTS: A moderate to maximum global disability was present in 43.6% of the sample. By areas, occupational functioning was the area most frequently affected, and personal care the least affected. The only variables which were associated with disability were the presence of medical comorbidity (P = .01), increased age (P = .005) global clinical severity (P = .0001) and in the depressive pole (P = .03). There was no relationship between clinical subtype, duration of the disease, number of previous episodes, number of hospitalisations, or other clinical variables and the degree of disability. CONCLUSIONS: These data underline the need to establish specific therapeutic strategies in the approach to depressive symptoms and medical comorbidity, with the aim of minimising the disability in elderly bipolar patients. Given the lack of current data, new studies are needed with larger samples and control groups.

Tasas de prevalencia de depresión en atención primaria en relación con las características metodológicas de los estudios / Prevalence of depression in primary care according to the methodology of the studies

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“Depresión”. Imprecisión diagnóstica y terapéutica. Importantes consecuencias en la práctica clínica / Depression as an imprecise and heterogeneous mental disorder. Consequences for clinical practice

Los trastornos depresivos constituyen un grupo enormemente heterogéneo de cuadros clínicos, cuya severidad se distribuye en un continuum que abarca, desde cuadros de dudosa o inconsistente significación clínica y próximos a las reacciones emocionales no patológicas, hasta cuadros severos con gran afectación funcional y riesgo vital. El episodio depresivo y la depresión mayor son categorías heterogéneas e imprecisas y el término depresión, aunque ampliamente utilizado en medios profesionales y extra profesionales, es todavía más ambiguo. Se subrayan algunas características clínicas que diferencian los trastornos depresivos con significación clínica del resto. Frente a la heterogeneidad clínica de los trastornos depresivos existe una llamativa uniformidad en el abordaje terapéutico, basado en la administración indiscriminada de fármacos antidepresivos para cualquier cuadro del amplio espectro de trastornos depresivos. Sería necesario desarrollar protocolos de actuación, con abordajes específicos, biológicos, psicoterapéuticos y psicosociales en función de los datos de eficacia de cada tipo de abordaje y de cada paciente específico, restringiendo los tratamientos farmacológicos a los cuadros en que han mostrado eficacia (AU)

Depressive disorders constitute a very heterogeneous group of clinical syndromes which includes from depressive syndromes of doubtful clinical significance to very severe and disabled disorders of high risk for life. The depressive episode and major depression categories, according to diagnostic criteria, are also very heterogeneous and vague entities. The “depression” term, widely used in scientific literature, is excessively ambiguous. In spite of this clinical heterogeneity, there is a striking uniformity in therapeutic management of depressive syndromes, based excessively in antidepressant drugs. Development of practice guidelines including not only biological but psychotherapeutic and psychosocial techniques is needed. Pharmacologic treatments should be restricted to more severe depressive episodes (AU)

[Diagnostic delay and differences by sex and clinical subtype in a cohort of outpatients with bipolar disorder]. / Retraso diagnóstico y diferencias por sexo y subtipo clínico en una cohorte de pacientes ambulatorios con trastorno bipolar.

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. Retrospective data on the course of the disease and cross-sectional data on social adaptation (Social Adaptation Adjustment Self-Assessment Scale (SASS) and affective symptoms were collected. Affective symptomatology (euthymia, subsyndromal symptoms and episodes) was studied according to clinical criteria and the Hamilton Depression and Young rating scales. Differences between type I and II bipolar patients and between men and women were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age was 48.8 years (95% CI 47.2-50.4); 56.8% were women and 43.2% were men. A total of 65.2% had a diagnosis of type I bipolar disorder and 23.3% of type II; 49.8% of the sample were euthymic, 32.7% had subsyndromal symptoms and 17.5% had had an affective episode. Diagnostic delay was 9.3 years (95% CI 8.2-10.3). In patients with type II bipolar disorder, the mean age (54.4 years; 95% CI 50.9-57.9 vs. 47.7 years; 95% CI 45.8-49.7, p=0.007), age at onset of illness (35.7 years; 95% CI 31.8-39.7 vs. 29.8 years; 95% CI 28-31.6, p=0.008) and age at diagnosis (47.7 years; 95% CI 44-51.3 vs. 37.9; 95% CI 35.9-39.8, p<0.0001) were higher than in patients with type I bipolar disorder. Manic polarity in the initial episode and psychotic episodes were more frequent in men, while depressive episodes and hypothyroidism were more frequent in women. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm data published in our environment on sociodemographic and clinical variables but diagnostic delay in our study was longer. Compared with American samples, age at onset and at diagnosis were higher in our sample but comorbidity was much lower.

Trastornos menores. Los límites de la psiquiatría / Minor disorders. The limits of psychiatry

Los trastornos menores incluyen un amplio abanico de cuadros clínicos de límites muy imprecisos y arbitrariamente establecidos, por lo que su estudio conlleva importantes dificultades metodológicas. Los datos de prevalencia de trastornos menores, especialmente ansioso-depresivo, resultan muy elevados cuando se utilizan escales de síntomas como instrumentos de cribaje. Se cuestiona en este texto la validez de muchos de estos instrumentos. Existe una arraigada corriente de opinión en nuestra sociedad, que se refleja en los medios de comunicación y a través de los líderes de opinión, que favorece el aumento de la demanda asistencial en salud mental a través de la sensibilización de la población hacia la petición de atención profesional en situaciones de dificultad y sufrimiento personal. Debemos ser capaces de diferenciar, mediante una detallada exploración psicopatológica, los trastornos menores en los que el abordaje psiquiátrico puede prevenir evoluciones desfavorables, incluso la evolución a trastornos psiquiátricos severos, de las dificultades de la vida cotidiana, evitando en lo posible la medicalización del sufrimiento y la infelicidad. Dicha medicalización no parece mejorar la salud de la población y puede, por el contrario, contribuir a desviar recursos sanitarios, necesarios para la asistencia de los trastornos psiquiátricos severos

Since minor disorders include a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations where boundaries are arbitrary and blurred, studying them presents major methodological difficulties. Very high rates of prevalence are reported for minor disorders, in particular anxiety-depressive ones, whe symptom-rated scales are used as tools for screening. The validity of such scales in detecting psychiatric disorders in under questions. There is at present a tendency in our society, reflected in the media through the opinions of leaders in the field, to seek the help of mental health professionals in cases of personal difficulty and suffering of the everyday kind. Through detailed psychopathological examination we must be able to differentiate minor disorders on one hand, which indeed can be prevented from evolving into severe disorders, through psychiatric treatment, from simply everyday troubles on the other hand, the idea being to avoid the medicating of ordinary-suffering and unhappiness. Such medication does nothing to improve the general health of the population, and resources necessary for the treatment of true, major psychiatric disorders are diverted

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. METHODS: A prospective study on 57 consecutive outpatients with major depressive episodes were followed-up monthly during one year. Clinical and psychosocial variables were registered, including personality (DSM-IV criteria and IPDE structured interview), previous quality of life, self-esteem, social support and dyadic adjustment. Remission was defined as a HDS score less than 8. Univariate and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses were applied. RESULTS: 68% of the patients reached remission at 12 months. Personality disorder (diagnosed clinically but not according to IPDE), and previous quality of life were the variables more consistently associated to remission at 12 months. Among follow-up variables, remission at 3 months was strongly associated with remission. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm the importance of the clinical diagnosis of personality disorder in the major depression outcome. However, more studies are needed to clarify the divergence between clinical and structured interview guided diagnosis. With the exception of quality of life, psychosocial variables had a weak and non consistent relationship with outcome.

Análisis descriptivo de las publicaciones originales en revistas españolas de psiquiatría / Descriptive analysis of original psychiatric papers published in Spanish journals

Introducción: existen muy pocos datos sobre los objetivos de los trabajos de investigación que se publican en revistas psiquiátricas españolas, así como de la forma de alcanzar dichos objetivos y de presentar los resultados. Metodología: se revisaron todos los trabajos originales publicados durante el año 1997 en nueve revistas psiquiátricas españolas de amplia difusión y se identificaron los objetivos de investigación, el diseño, la existencia de resumen estructurado, la referencia explícita al objetivo y al diseño de la investigación, el nivel de complejidad estadística utilizado y la presentación de los datos estadísticos. Resultados: el 40 por ciento de los trabajos son inclasificables por objetivos. Sólo la mitad explicitan un diseño y el 61 por ciento no tienen un resumen estructurado. Entre los objetivos, el 26,7 por ciento es causal, 22,4 por ciento descriptivo, 62 por ciento de eficacia de tratamiento y 5,5 por ciento de validación de escalas o eficacia diagnóstica. Entre los que tienen un objetivo causal sólo 3 (6,9 por ciento) utilizan diseño de cohorte. Cuando el objetivo es descriptivo, 25 por ciento es de diseño transversal, y en estudios de eficacia de tratamiento sólo uno es un ensayo clínico controlado. El 41 por ciento de los trabajos no especifican el método estadístico utilizado, 65 por ciento no utilizan estimadores y el 77 por ciento no calculan intervalos de confianza. Conclusiones: se observa una escasa proporción, entre los originales analizados, de trabajos en que se explicite y/o se pueda deducir un objetivo de investigación. Existe una masiva utilización de diseños débiles y, frecuentemente, la presentación estadística de los datos es insuficiente (AU)