Editorial: Addressing Treatment Inequities in Youth Bipolar Disorder: Key Considerations for Improving Youth Outcomes

Although substantial work has documented disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) in adults, this important area has not been explored in pediatric BD. It is critical that we quantify inequities in treatment outcomes, so that we can better serve the needs of all children and adolescents. In this issue of the Journal, Fontanella and colleagues¹ used a large database of Medicaid records to assess how often youth with newly diagnosed BD received guideline-concordant treatment (ie, mood-stabilizing medication and psychotherapy). Specifically, the authors focused on the probability that recently diagnosed youths did the following: (1) filled 2 months of prescriptions for mood stabilizers and/or antipsychotics (ie, guideline-concordant pharmacotherapy); (2) filled 2 months of prescriptions for antidepressants without a mood stabilizing medication (ie, antidepressant monotherapy); and (3) received any psychotherapy.