Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T20:11:46.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Update on the treatment of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Robert L. Findling*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals of Cleveland, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH44106-5080, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (R.L. Findling).
Get access

Abstract

As the phenomenology of pediatric bipolar disorder has become better delineated, clinicians are now able to more accurately assess and treat young people suffering from this condition. For pediatric patients with bipolar I disorder and symptoms of mania, medication monotherapy has been shown to lead to symptom amelioration. However, this treatment modality oftentimes does not lead to full symptom remission. In an attempt to address this observation, combination treatment strategies have recently been investigated. Recently, a maintenance study has shown that in youths who achieved remission on a combination of lithium and divalproate therapy, either of these agents alone was equally effective as a treatment strategy. In youths identified as being at genetic high risk for bipolarity who also had problematic affective symptomatology, treatment with divalproate was not found to be superior to placebo; however, those with the greatest degree of genetic risk for familial psychopathology remained in the trial longer than those with more modest amounts of familial psychopathology. These data suggest that intervention in youths with only one affected parent may not be a rational prevention strategy for pharmacological intervention in bipolar disorder, and that cohorts more genetically at risk may be a more appropriate group for preventative pharmacotherapy.

Type
Review
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation. http://www.bpkids.org/. Accessed November 2004.Google Scholar
Delbello, MP, Schwiers, ML, Rosenberg, HL, Strakowski, SMA double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of quetiapine as adjunctive treatment for adolescent mania. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2002;41:12161223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Findling, RL, Gracious, BL, McNamara, NK, Calabrese, JRThe rationale, design, and progress of two novel maintenance treatment studies in pediatric bipolarity. Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2000;12:136138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Findling, RL, Kowatch, RA, Post, RMPediatric bipolar disorder. A handbook for clinicians London: Martin Dunitz Publishers; 2002Google Scholar
Findling, R, Calabrese, J, Youngstrom, EDivalproex sodium vs. placebo in the treatment of youth at genetic high-risk for developing bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2003; 5:47Google Scholar
Findling, RL, McNamara, NK, Gracious, BL, Youngstrom, EA, Stansbrey, RJ, Reed, MDet al.Combination lithium and divalproex sodium in pediatric bipolarity. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2003; 42:895901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Findling, RL, McNamara, NK, Youngstrom, EA, Stansbrey, RJ, Gracious, BL, Reed, MDet al.A double blind 18-month trial of lithium versus divalproex maintenance treatment in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2005[in press]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frazier, JA, Biederman, J, Tohen, M, Feldman, PD, Jacobs, TG, Toma, Vet al.A prospective open-label treatment trial of olanzapine monotherapy in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. J. Child Adolesc. Psychopharmacol. 2001; 11:239250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frazier, JA, Meyer, MC, Biederman, J, Wozniak, J, Wilens, TE, Spencer, TJet al.Risperidone treatment for juvenile bipolar disorder: A retrospective chart review. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1999; 38:960965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geller, B, Cooper, TB, Sun, K, Zimerman, B, Frazier, J, Williams, Met al.Double-blind and placebo-controlled study of lithium for adolescent bipolar disorders with secondary substance dependency. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1998; 37:171178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gracious, BL, Youngstrom, EA, Findling, RL, Calabrese, JRDiscriminative validity of a parent version of the Young Mania Rating Scale. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2002; 41:13501359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kafantaris, V, Coletti, DJ, Dicker, R, Padula, G, Kane, JMLithium treatment of acute mania in adolescents: A large open trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2003; 42:10381045.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kowatch, RA, Suppes, T, Carmody, TJ, Bucci, JP, Hume, JH, Kromelis, Met al.Effect size of lithium, divalproex sodium, and carbamazepine in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2000; 39:713720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheffer, RE, Kowatch, RA, Carmody, T, Rush, AJRandomized, placebo-controlled trial of mixed amphetamine salts for symptoms of comorbid ADHD in pediatric bipolar disorder after mood stabilization with divalproex sodium. Am. J. Psychiatry 2005; 162:5864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagner, KD, Weller, EB, Carlson, GA, Sachs, G, Biederman, J, Frazier, JAet al.An open-label trial of divalproex in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2002; 41:12241230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Youngstrom, EA, Danielson, CK, Findling, RL, Gracious, BL, Calabrese, JRFactor structure of the Young Mania Rating Scale for use with youths aged 5–17 years. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2002; 31:567572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Youngstrom, EA, Gracious, BL, Danielson, CK, Findling, RL, Calabrese, JToward an integration of parent and clinician report on the Young Mania Rating Scale. J. Affect. Disord. 2003; 77:179190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.