Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T15:34:00.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Incidence of childhood-onset bipolar illness in the USA and Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert M. Post*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University, Washington, DC, and Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania
David A. Luckenbaugh
Affiliation:
Mood and Anxiety Disorder Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Gabriele S. Leverich
Affiliation:
Mood and Anxiety Disorder Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Lori L. Altshuler
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles, Mood Disorders Research Program, and VA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
Mark A. Frye
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Trisha Suppes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Southwestern Medical Center, University of Texas, Dallas, Texas
Paul E. Keck
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Program, University of Cincinnati Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Susan L. McElroy
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Program, University of Cincinnati Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Willem A. Nolen
Affiliation:
Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG), Groningen
Ralph Kupka
Affiliation:
H.C. Rumke Groep, Willem Arntsz Huis, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Heinz Grunze
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Freiburg, Germany
Joerg Walden
Affiliation:
Psychiatrische Clinik, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
*
Robert M. Post, Bipolar Collaborative Network, 5415 W. Cedar Lane, Suite 201-B Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. Email: Robert.post@speakeasy.net
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The relative incidence of childhood-onset bipolar illness in the USA compared with that in Europe is controversial. We examined this issue in more than 500 out-patients (average age 42 years) with bipolar illness who reported age at onset of first episode, family history, and childhood physical or sexual abuse. Childhood or adolescent onset of bipolar illness was reported by 61% of those in the US cohort but by only 30% of those in The Netherlands or Germany. In the USA there was also twice the incidence of childhood adversity and genetic/familial risk for affective disorder. The findings deserve replication and further exploration.

Type
Short report
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2008 

References

1 Lish, SD, Dime-Meenan, S, Whybrow, PC, Price, RA, Hirschfeld, RM. The National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association (NDMDA) survey of bipolar members. J Affect Disord 1994; 31: 281–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Perlis, RH, Miyahara, S, Marangell, LB, Wisniewski, SR, Ostacher, M, DelBello, MP, Bowden, CL, Sachs, GS, Nierenberg, AA. Long-term implications of early onset in bipolar disorder: data from the first 1000 participants in The Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD). Biol Psychiatry 2004; 55: 875–81.Google Scholar
3 Kessler, RC, Berglund, P, Demler, O, Jin, R, Walters, EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM–IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005; 62: 590–2.Google ScholarPubMed
4 Pavuluri, MN, Birmaher, B, Naylor, MW. Pediatric bipolar disorder: a review of the past 10 years. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2005; 44: 846–71.Google Scholar
5 Leverich, GS, Post, RM, Keck, PE, Altshuler, LL, Frye, MA, Kupka, RW, Nolen, WA, Suppes, T, McElroy, SL, Grunze, H, Denicoff, K, Moravec, MK, Luckenbaugh, D. The poor prognosis of childhood onset bipolar disorder: the need for a paradigm shift for earlier recognition and treatment. J Pediatr 2007; 150: 485–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Soutullo, CA, Chang, KD, Diez-Sauarez, A, Figueroa-Quintana, A, Escamilla-Canales, I, Rapado-Castro, M, Ortuño, F. Bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. International perspective on epidemiology and phenomenology. Bipolar Disord 2005; 7: 497506.Google Scholar
7 Leverich, GS, Post, RM. Course of bipolar illness after history of childhood trauma. Lancet 2006; 367: 1040–2.Google Scholar
8 Post, RM, Nolen, WA, Kupka, RW, Denicoff, KD, Leverich, GS, Keck, PE Jr, McElroy, SL, Rush, AJ, Suppes, T, Altshuler, LL, Frye, MA, Grunze, H, Walden, J. The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network: 1. Rationale and methods. Br J Psychiatry 2001; 178 (suppl 41): 169–76.Google Scholar
9 Suppes, T, Leverich, GS, Keck, PE, Nolen, KD Denicoff, WA, Altshuler, LL, McElroy, SL, Rush, AJ, Kupka, R, Frye, MA, Bickel, M, Post, RM. The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network. II. Demographics and illness characteristics of the first 261 patients. J Affect Disord 2001; 67: 4559.Google Scholar
10 First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBW. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Axis I Disorders – Patient Edition (Research Version, 2/96 final). Biometrics Research Department, NY State Psychiatric Institute, 1996.Google Scholar
11 Chang, KD, Steiner, H, Ketter, TA. Psychiatric phenomenology of child and adolescent bipolar offspring. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2000; 39: 453–60.Google Scholar
12 Reichart, CG, Nolen, WA. Earlier onset of bipolar disorder in children by antidepressants or stimulants? An hypothesis. J Affect Disord 2004; 78: 81–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13 Bellivier, F, Golmard, JL, Henry, C, Leboyer, M, Schurhoff, F. Admixture analysis of age at onset in bipolar I affective disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001; 58: 510–12.Google Scholar
14 Comings, DE. The Gene Bomb. Hope Press, 1995.Google Scholar
15 Lange, KJ, McInnis, MG. Studies of anticipation in bipolar affective disorder. CNS Spectr 2002; 7: 196202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16 Post, RM, Kowatch, RA. The health care crisis of childhood-onset bipolar illness: some recommendations for its amelioration. J Clin Psychiatry 2006; 67: 115–25.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.