Relationship Between Impulsivity and Clinical and Sociodemographic Variables Among Lebanese Patients With Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

Impulsivity is a psychiatric symptom that seems to be more prevalent in some mental disorders such as bipolar disorders (BDs). It is a trait that seems to be influenced by many clinical and sociodemographic variables across BD. To examine the relationship between impulsivity and these variables, we performed a cross-sectional study on 50 patients diagnosed with BD and 50 healthy subjects. Both groups were administered the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale; the Structural Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, for borderline personality disorder; the Beirut District Scale; and the Athens Insomnia Scale to assess impulsivity, borderline personality disorder, psychological distress, and sleep disturbances, respectively. A significantly higher nonplanning impulsivity (p = 0.001), motor impulsivity (p < 0.0001), total impulsivity (p < 0.0001), body mass index (p < 0.0001), and insomnia (p = 0.002) were found in subjects with BDs compared with healthy ones. Exposure to violence (odds ratio [OR] = 7.63), the loss of a parent (OR = 3.83), being a current smoker (OR = 14.56), and a higher motor impulsivity score (OR = 1.27) were all significantly associated with the presence of BD. Impulsivity was shown to be strongly associated with the presence of a diagnosis of BD, and further studies are warranted to fully characterize it through the course of the illness.

Are eating disorders associated with bipolar disorder type I? Results of a Lebanese case‐control study

“…Violence was also shown to be associated with the presence of BD according to our results, in line with a previous Lebanese study 36 . Indeed, previous findings showed that a person who has been suffering from violence in the family, can develop many unwanted physical, mental, and psychological problems as a result of these actions and behaviors 49 …”

“…This study evaluates the association of eating attitudes with bipolar disorder in Lebanese patients after adjustment over some factors that have previously been shown to be associated with BD. 36 The major finding was that having eating disorders (measured by the EAT) was significantly associated with the presence of bipolar disorder. In fact, eating disorders are an independent factor associated with BD, not mediated by other factors included in the multivariable analyses (marital status, family history of violence, shopping and gambling addictions, sleep quality, and insomnia severity).…”

“…This study evaluates the association of eating attitudes with bipolar disorder in Lebanese patients after adjustment over some factors that have previously been shown to be associated with BD 36 . The major finding was that having eating disorders (measured by the EAT) was significantly associated with the presence of bipolar disorder.…”

“…25 Violence was also shown to be associated with the presence of BD according to our results, in line with a previous Lebanese study. 36 Indeed, previous findings showed that a person who has been suffering from violence in the family, can develop many unwanted physical, mental, and psychological problems as a result of these actions and behaviors. 49 Our results also showed that having a shopping addiction was significantly associated with the presence of BD, in line with other studies 50,51 that emphasized that obsessive, uncontrollable purchasing is more pronounced in patients with BD compared with healthy controls.…”

Antimania-Like Effect of Panax ginseng Regulating the Glutamatergic Neurotransmission in REM-Sleep Deprivation Rats

“…BPD patients in a manic state represent the characteristic behaviors such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and aggressiveness [ 28 , 29 ]. Rodent models of mania have also shown the hyperactive- and the impulsive-like behaviors, increasing the total number of entries into the arms and the frequencies of the open arm entries/the spent time in the open arms in the EPM test [ 30 – 32 ].…”