[A comparative study of rapid and non-rapid cycling types in bipolar affective disorder]

It was a prospective and comparative study on the two types of bipolar affective disorder--rapid cycling (RC) and nonrapid cycling (NRC). Each group contains 51 cases separately. Both of the two types are included in bipolar disorder, so they have a lots in common in respect of clinical phenomenology. But the episode frequency of some patients in RC group is characterized as extremely rapid cycle. And there are more premorbid psychosocial factors in RC group than that in NRC group. In contrast with NRC, the RC is more common in type II bipolar disorder. We think that RC is a clinical subtype in bipolar affective disorder, having a close bearing on type II. For the function of HPT axis, we investigated the premorbid thyroid history and observed its changes, but no abnormal signs were found. Plasma level of TSH was determined among some cases in the two types, all the results are in normal range, and the average level of TSH was not significantly different between the groups.