• Ulises Ríos, Pablo R Moya, Óscar Urrejola, Jimena Hermosilla, René Gonzalez, Paulina Muñoz, Javier Moran, Paula Solervicens, and Juan Pablo Jiménez.
• Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2020 Feb 1; 148 (2): 204-210.

BackgroundA history of child abuse is common and has a significant impact in the clinical course of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorders (BD).AimsTo assess the frequency of child abuse experiences in patients BD type I and to evaluate its association with clinical course and cognitive functioning variables.Material And Methods117 patients with BD aged 45 ± 14 years (66% women) answered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The clinical course (illness onset, history of suicide attempts and number of hospitalizations) was obtained from medical records. Cognitive functioning was evaluated through social and non-social cognition tasks.Results64% of participants reported some type of child abuse. This variable was associated with an early onset of the disease (Odds ratio (OR) = 3.3; p < 0.02), increased risk of suicide attempts (OR = 2.4; p < 0.04) and specific disturbances in social cognitive tasks.ConclusionsOur study supports evidence of a common history of child abuse in patients with BD. Although child abuse predicts a worse clinical course, major clinical practice guidelines, as well as research designs, do not highlight this evidence.

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