Clinical correlates of lateral ventricular enlargement in bipolar affective disorder

The presence of lateral ventricular enlargement in some manic-depressive subjects, as assessed by ventricular-brain ratios (VBRs), has been reported. A study of 27 bipolar patients and 27 individually matched normal controls confirmed that finding. Bipolar patients had significantly larger VBRs than did controls. Clinical measures associated with the presence of ventricular enlargement in the bipolar patients included more frequent hospitalizations and histories of persistent unemployment. Other measures of illness severity or social deterioration were not significantly associated with large VBR.