The epidemiology of bipolar affective disorder

Abstract

This paper reviews the current position of studies on the epidemiology of bipolar affective disorder. A disorder that cannot be recognized until sometime after its onset poses special difficulties for epidemiological study. These are discussed and attempts made to solve them. Community psychiatric surveys suggest a morbid risk of bipolar disorder of around 2-2.5%, but probably include many false-positives. Studies of treated cases indicate a morbid risk of 0.5%, but will miss untreated cases. It is probably reasonable to suggest a compromise value of 1-1.5%; bipolar disorder is thus still a rare condition. It is possible to quantify the unipolar-bipolar conversion rate, which is of the order of 5%, and is of particular interest that female sufferers have proportionately fewer manic episodes. Age at onset, possible cohort phenomena, comorbidity, and sociodemographic correlates are discussed.

Population-based and family-based studies on the serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms and bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Keywords: bipolar disorder; serotonin transporter; polymorphisms; genetics; association study; meta-analysis Bipolar disorder (BPD), also known as manic-depressive illness, is a frequent and severe psychiatric disorder with the lifetime prevalence between 1 and 2% in the general population, being equally distributed across sexes. 1 The etiology is unknown although the presence of a complex dysfunction at multiple levels such as neurotransmitter system, prefrontallimbic-subcortical circuit and neuroendocrinological system has been suggested. 2 Family studies have indicated a marked increase in lifetime risk of the illness in first-degree relatives of the proband, varying between five and 10 times that of the general population.…”

“…1 The etiology is unknown although the presence of a complex dysfunction at multiple levels such as neurotransmitter system, prefrontallimbic-subcortical circuit and neuroendocrinological system has been suggested. 2 Family studies have indicated a marked increase in lifetime risk of the illness in first-degree relatives of the proband, varying between five and 10 times that of the general population.…”

Identifying Some Risk Factors of Time to Recurrent Relapses in Bipolar I Disorder Patients using Frailty Model of Survival Analysis

“…Patients with long duration of illness and highly recurrent course show great impairment of global functioning and number of episodes has been found consistently associated with poor outcome [4]. An important feature of bipolar I disorder is the repetition of relapses over time and up to 90% of BD patients have at least one relapse in their lifetime [12][13][14][15]. Information about time to relapse and efficacy of some risk factors in preventing relapses will provide a valuable tool for planning and evaluating the health-outcome results of treatment [16].…”

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Bipolar Disorder

“…[1,2] Bu tabloya hipomani, siklotimi ve eşik altı belirtiler de eklendiğinde bu oran %3'den %8.8'e kadar çıka-bilmektedir. [3,4] Bipolar bozukluğun yaşam boyu yineleme (relapse) oranı %80-95 arasındadır.…”