Subthreshold symptoms and time to relapse/recurrence in a community cohort of bipolar disorder outpatients

Abstract Background Researchers have previously found that persistent subthreshold symptoms increase the risk and shorten the time until an affective relapse in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. Research has mainly focused on patients from tertiary Care Centers in USA. We tested the hypothesis that ev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of affective disorders 2012-12, Vol.143 (1), p.160-165
Main Authors: De Dios, C, Ezquiaga, E, Agud, J.L, Vieta, E, Soler, B, García-López, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affective disorders
Biological and medical sciences
Bipolar affective disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar Disorder - diagnosis
Bipolar Disorder - psychology
Bipolar disorders
Chronic Disease
Cyclothymic Disorder - psychology
Data processing
Disease-Free Survival
Emotional behavior
Female
Follow-up study
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mood
Mood disorders
Outpatients
Prognosis
Prospective Studies
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychosocial factors
Recurrence
Relapse
Retrospective Studies
Social interactions
Spain
Stress
Stress, psychological
Subthreshold symptoms
Survival
Symptoms
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Researchers have previously found that persistent subthreshold symptoms increase the risk and shorten the time until an affective relapse in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. Research has mainly focused on patients from tertiary Care Centers in USA. We tested the hypothesis that even in a different setting, BD outpatients with subsyndromal affective symptoms would re.turn to a subsequent major affective episode significantly faster than completely asymptomatic at baseline. Secondarily, we analysed other variables related to time and risk to relapse. Methods A community cohort of BD outpatients from Madrid (Spain) followed-up in a systematic prospective follow-up protocol for up to five years were evaluated. Patients in clinical euthymia at baseline were included and evaluated quarterly. Results Initially, 225 patients were included in the survival analysis. Of them, according to predefined psychometric criteria, 163 were in euthymia (72.4%) and 62 (27.6%) suffered subsyndromal symptoms. Median follow-up was 157.6 weeks (95% CI, 78.14 to 111); 57.3% of patients experienced at least one affective episode during their follow-up. Median survival time to first affective episode was 109 weeks for patients in euthymia at baseline, versus 35 weeks for those with subsyndromal symptoms (p
ISSN:0165-0327
1573-2517
DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2012.05.047