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Does the manic/mixed episode distinction in bipolar disorder patients run true over time?
S W Woods1, R Money, C B Baker
1Department of Psychiatry, Treatment Research Program, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 34 Park St., New Haven, CT 06519, USA. scott.woods@yale.edu
Objective:
The authors sought to determine whether the manic/mixed episode distinction in patients with bipolar disorder runs true over time.
Method:
Over an 11-year period, the observed distribution of manic and mixed episodes (N=1,224) for patients with three or more entries in the management information system of a community mental health center (N=241) was compared to the expected distribution determined by averaging 1,000 randomly generated simulations.
Results:
Episodes were consistent (all manic or all mixed) in significantly more patients than would be expected by chance.
Conclusions:
These data suggest a pattern of diagnostic stability over time for manic and mixed episodes in patients with bipolar disorder. Careful prospective studies of this issue are needed.
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