Clinical characteristics associated with number of depressive episode in patients with bipolar disorder
Objective To investigate the Relative clinical characteristics associated with depressive polarity onset frequency in bipolar disorder.Methods Patients with bipolar disorder were continuously enrolled in outpatient clinics of 7 hospitals in 6 cities in China from February 2013 to June 2014 by continuous sampling method.A follow-up investigation was conducted,and patients'general demographic information and clinical data were collected.Patients with bipolar dis-order were collected and followed up during the study period,including the review period(within the past 12 months)and the prospective period(within 9 months of follow-up).Poisson analysis was used to analyze the related factors affecting the number of depressive episodes.Analysis factors included age,sex,years of education,working status,comorbidity of substance abuse,residential status,bipolar type:type 1 vs type Ⅱ,family history of mental illness,comorbidity of anxi-ety disorder,polarity of first episode.Age of first onset of bipolar disorder,age of diagnosis of bipolar disorder,presence of psychotic symptoms,use of antipsychotic drugs,use of antidepressants,use of mood stabilizers,etc.Results A to-tal of 520 patients were included in the statistical analysis,of which 398 were diagnosed as type Ⅰ,accounting for 76.54%of the total enrolled cases,and 122 were diagnosed as type Ⅱ,accounting for 23.46%of the total enrolled cases.Among 307 subjects,the first polarity of the episode was depressive episode.Poisson analysis showed that the risk factor for the increase of depressive episode during the follow-up period was bipolar Ⅱ disorder(IRR=1.267,P=0.01),and the in-crease of depressive episode in female patients(IRR=0.816,P=0.001).The number of depressive episodes increased in those who did not use mood stabilizers(IRR=0.682,P<0.001).Employment status,family history of mental illness,substance abuse,polarity of any first episode,presence or absence of psychotic symptoms,and presence or absence of anxiety disorder were not significantly associated with the number of depressive episodes.Conclusion The number of de-pressive episodes in patients with bipolar disorder is affected by the type of bipolar disorder,gender,and using of mood stabilizers.It is necessary to pay attention to the disease type,female patients,and the use of mood stabilizers to minimize the number of depressive episodes.