Journal of affective disorders
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Multicenter Study
A prospective study of the impact of comorbid medical disease on bipolar disorder outcomes.
Several studies suggest that medical comorbidity is associated with worse clinical status in bipolar disorder. It is unclear which aspect of medical comorbidity is responsible: simple disease count, risk for future morbidity, or current physical burden. ⋯ This long-term prospective study extends cross-sectional and retrospective research on the link between medical illness and bipolar outcomes. It is the current experience of burden of physical illness, rather than an unweighted or weighted disease count, that leads to worse bipolar outcomes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of risperidone for acute treatment of bipolar anxiety.
The treatment of bipolar disorder is often complicated by the presence of a co-occuring anxiety disorder. Although second generation antipsychotics are being used with increasing frequency in bipolar patients, their anxiolytic effects have not been well studied in this population. ⋯ Risperidone monotherapy was not an effective anxiolytic for bipolar patients with comorbid panic disorder or GAD in doses of 0.5-4 mg/day over 8 weeks of treatment. The efficacy of other second generation antipsychotics and mood stabilizers on anxiety in patients with bipolar disorder and a co-occuring anxiety disorder should be investigated in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies.
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Schizoaffective disorder shares clinical characteristics with schizophrenia and affective disorders, with patients experiencing concurrent manic, mixed, or depressive episodes during psychosis. Because efficacy may be better in schizoaffective disorder than schizophrenia, this post-hoc analysis examines the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of aripiprazole in patients with schizoaffective disorder. ⋯ Aripiprazole was efficacious and well tolerated in patients with schizoaffective disorder.
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Comparative Study
Economic impact of non-persistence to antidepressant therapy in the Quebec community-dwelling elderly population.
In a real-life setting, differences across newer antidepressants in patterns of use remain poorly explored, particularly in the older patients despite the high prevalence of late-life depression. ⋯ As found in other populations, non-persistence with antidepressant treatment is very frequent in the Quebec elderly population. Products associated with poor persistence result in increased health care costs. Hence, intervention programs aimed at improving persistence would optimize the use of health care resources and result in economic advantages.