Citation

Tozzi F, Manchia M, Galwey NW, Severino G, Del Zompo M, Day R, Matthews K, Strauss J, Kennedy JL, McGuffin P, Vincent JB, Farmer A, Muglia P. Psychiatry Res. 2011; 185(1-2): 27-32.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2009.11.025

PMID

20580841

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify whether age at onset (AAO) identifies Bipolar Disorder (BD) subtypes, and to test whether the subgroups were confirmed by different clinical profiles. Admixture analysis was applied to determine a model that best fit the observed distribution of AAO in 964 BD patients. Three distributions of AAO were identified, and age means were 16.1 (S.D. 4.2), 25.4 (S.D. 2.5) and 32.2 (S.D. 9.5) years. A significant increased rate of suicide attempts, Bipolar I (BD I) caseness, and depressive onset was observed in the early-onset group when compared to those with later-onset by means of χ².

FINDINGS from extant studies and our results are remarkably consistent in showing that BD can be subdivided into three groups based on AAO distributions, and that early-onset is associated with higher rates of suicide attempts.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Aged; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Adolescent; Age Factors; Young Adult; Sex Factors; Aged, 80 and over; Chi-Square Distribution; Age of Onset; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Bipolar Disorder