The ARIQUELI study: potentiation of quetiapine in bipolar I nonresponders with lithium versus aripiprazole

Abstract Background:The treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) remains a challenge due to the complexity of the disease. Current guidelines represent an effort to assist clinicians in routine practice but have several limitations, particularly concerning long-term treatment. The ARIQUELI (efficacy and tolerability of the combination of lithium or aripiprazole in young bipolar non or partial responders to quetiapine monotherapy) study aims to evaluate two different augmentation strategies for quetiapine nonresponders or partial responders in acute and maintenance phases of BD treatment. Methods/Design: The ARIQUELI study is a single-site, parallel-group, randomized, outcome assessor-blinded trial. BD I patients according to the DSM-IV-TR, in depressive, manic/hypomanic or mixed episode, aged 18 to 40 years, are eligible. After diagnostic assessments, patients initiated treatment in phase I with quetiapine. Nonresponders or partial responders after 8 weeks are allocated into one of two groups, potentiated with either lithium (0.5 to 0.8 mEq/l) or aripiprazole (10 or 15 mg). Patients will be followed up for 8 weeks in phase I (acute treatment), 6 months in phase II (continuation treatment) and 12 months in phase III (maintenance treatment). Outcome assessors are blinded to the treatment. The primary outcome is the evaluation of changes in mean scores on the CGI-BP-M between baseline and the endpoint at the end of each study phase. Discussion: The ARIQUELI study is currently in progress, with patients undergoing acute treatment (phase I), potentiation (phase II) and maintenance (phase III). The study will be extended until January 2015. Trials comparing lithium and aripiprazole with potentiate treatment in young BD I nonresponders to quetiapine in monotherapy can provide relevant information on the safety of these drugs in clinical practice. Long-term treatment is an issue of great importance and should be evaluated further through more in-depth studies given that BD is a chronic disease. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01710163

Implicações de um grupo de Psicoeducação no cotidiano de portadores de Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar

Há evidências crescentes de que o curso Transtorno Afetivo Bipolar (TAB) pode ser modificado por abordagens psicoterápicas, tais como a Psicoeducação. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar as implicações do grupo de Psicoeducação no cotidiano dos portadores. Para tanto, optou-se pelo estudo qualitativo, do tipo Estudo de Caso. Foram incluídos doze portadores de TAB que tiveram pelo menos seis participações no Grupo de Psicoeducação desenvolvido na Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto (FAMERP). Foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas, gravadas, transcritas e trabalhadas por meio da Análise Temática. Este estudo demonstrou que tal experiência grupal favoreceu a aquisição de conhecimento; a conscientização da doença e adesão ao tratamento; a realização de mudanças positivas na vida; a possibilidade de ajudar outros portadores a se beneficiarem do aprendizado construído no grupo; a descoberta de outras realidades e estratégias de enfrentamento, obtidas por meio da troca de experiências entre os participantes.

Occurrence of bipolar spectrum disorder and comorbidities in women with eating disorders

Abstract Background Eating disorder (ED) patients often have comorbidities with other psychiatric disorders, especially with mood disorders. Although recent studies suggest an intimate relationship between ED and bipolar disorder (BD), the study on a broader bipolar spectrum definition has not been done in this population. We aimed to study the occurrence of bipolar spectrum (BS) and comorbidities in eating disorder patients of a tertiary service provider. Methods Sixty-nine female patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified were evaluated. The assessment comprised the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), clinical criteria for diagnosis of the Zurich bipolar spectrum. Mann–Whitney tests compared means of continuous variables. The association between categorical variables and the groups was described using contingency tables and analyzed using the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The level of significance alpha was set at 5%. Results The results showed that 68.1% of patients had comorbidity with bipolar spectrum, and this was associated with higher family income, proportion of married people, and comorbidity with substance use. The ED with BS group showed higher rates of substance use comorbidity (40.4%) than the ED without BS group (13.6%). Discussion These results showed that the bipolar spectrum is a common comorbidity in patients with eating disorders and is associated with correlates of clinical importance, notably the comorbidity with substance use. Due to the pattern of similarity between the groups with and without comorbid bipolar spectrum in relation to various outcomes evaluated, the identification of comorbidity can be difficult. However, the precise diagnosis and careful identification of clinical correlates may contribute to future advances in treating these conditions. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the association of other clinical correlates and its possible causal association.

A Sib-Pair analysis of impulsivity in bipolar disorder type I

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare impulsivity among patients with bipolar disorder, their siblings, and healthy controls in order to examine whether impulsivity in bipolar disorder is related to genetic liability for the illness. METHODS: Using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, we assessed 204 subjects: 67 euthymic outpatients with bipolar disorder type I, 67 siblings without bipolar disorder, and 70 healthy controls. RESULTS: Impulsivity scores were higher among patients with bipolar disorder than among healthy controls. Siblings showed higher motor impulsivity scores than did healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that motor impulsivity may be a vulnerability marker for bipolar disorder. Our data may contribute to further improve preventive strategies in subjects at high risk for bipolar disorder.