Adjunctive antipsychotic use in bipolar patients: an open 6-month prospective study following an acute episode

We examined the use of adjunctive antipsychotics in the treatment of bipolar patients.

A total of 88 bipolar type I patients (DSM-IV diagnosis) were included. The patterns of adjunctive antipsychotic use in the first 6 months after an index episode were examined.

A total of 34 patients (39%) received at least one antipsychotic during the follow-up period. At time 0, 23 subjects (26%) were on antipsychotics; at 3 months, 10 subjects (11%); and at the end of the 6 month period, 11 subjects (12%). Prolonged use of antipsychotics (more than 15 weeks) was found in eight patients (9%). No significant differences were found in demographic characteristics or baseline clinical variables between the patients who received or did not receive antipsychotics, except that the use of adjunct antipsychotics in the 6-month period was significantly more common after an index manic than depressive episode (68 versus 17%, respectively, P = 0.001; Fisher's exact test).

This report presents a secondary analysis of follow-up data from a prospective study, and therefore the hypotheses here examined were not originally part of the primary hypotheses that led to the design of the study. A larger sample size could eventually reveal small differences among the patient sub-groups not presently found.

The use of adjunctive antipsychotics among bipolar patients was less extensive than previously reported, and mostly related to an index manic episode. Our findings suggest that in samples of carefully diagnosed bipolar type I patients the group that may need continued antipsychotic treatment is relatively small.