Age-associated alterations in corpus callosum white matter integrity in bipolar disorder assessed using probabilistic tractography.

OBJECTIVES: Atypical age-associated changes in white matter integrity may play a role in the neurobiology of bipolar disorder, but no studies have examined the major white matter tracts using nonlinear statistical modeling across a wide age range in this disorder. The goal of this study was to identify possible deviations in the typical pattern of age-associated changes in white matter integrity in patients with bipolar disorder across the age range of 9-62 years. METHODS: Diffusion tensor imaging was performed in 57 (20 male and 37 female) patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and 57 (20 male and 37 female) age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy were computed for the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum, two projection tracts, and five association tracts using probabilistic tractography. RESULTS: Overall, patients had lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity compared to healthy volunteers across all tracts (while controlling for the effects of age and age(2) ). In addition, there were greater age-associated increases in mean diffusivity in patients compared to healthy volunteers within the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum beginning in the second and third decades of life. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence for alterations in the typical pattern of white matter development in patients with bipolar disorder compared to healthy volunteers. Changes in white matter development within the corpus callosum may lead to altered inter-hemispheric communication that is considered integral to the neurobiology of the disorder.

Risk factors for medical deterioration of psychiatric inpatients: opportunities for early recognition and prevention.

BACKGROUND: Medical deterioration during admission to free-standing psychiatric hospitals is distressing for patients, interrupts bio-behavioral interventions, and places a substantial burden on health care resources. Emergency transfers to a general hospital are a reasonable marker of significant medical deterioration, but have not been assessed systematically. OBJECTIVE: To use clinical data available at the time of psychiatric admission to identify risk factors for transfers to a general hospital. METHOD: Retrospective review of the hospital course of 1000 adults consecutively admitted for an average of 19.1 ± 21.3 days to a single free-standing psychiatric hospital in 2010. RESULTS: One hundred forty-four patients (14.4%) were transferred to a general hospital. Transferred and not-transferred groups differed significantly with regard to age, presence of dementia, number of comorbid medical disorder, history of arterial hypertension, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, albumin, glucose, calcium, hemoglobin, and hematocrit (P < .001). In a multiple logistic regression analysis, blood urea nitrogen (odds ratio [OR], 63.2), hemoglobin (OR, 35.3), albumin (OR, 7.3) and age (OR, 5.73) were independently associated with transfers. Acute medical deteriorations occurred in 46.2% of patients with azotemia (BUN >24 mg/dL), 32.7% of those with anemia (Hb <12 g/L), 37.5 % of those with hypoalbuminemia (albumin <3.7 g/dL), and 37.4% of patients 65 and older. CONCLUSION: Medical deterioration of psychiatric inpatients correlates with higher BUN, lower albumin and hemoglobin, and older age. Baseline azotemia, anemia or hypoalbuminemia should trigger prompt medical evaluation and enhanced monitoring to prevent, identify, and treat somatic disorders.