Interval between symptom onset and hospitalization in mania

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Bipolar Disorder Research

Background:

• Previous research on mania onset lacked detailed frequency distributions for hospital latency.
• A bimodal distribution for illness onset in mania has been suggested but not confirmed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the frequency distribution of hospital latency in patients hospitalized for mania.
• To identify characteristics associated with short hospital latency.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of hospital latency in 100 patients admitted for mania.
• Comparison of patient demographics and psychiatric history between short and long latency groups.

Main Results:

• A unimodal distribution was observed for hospital latency.
• The mean hospital latency was 3.3 weeks (± 3.2 weeks).
• Patients with short latency (< 1 week) were younger and had briefer psychiatric histories.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a frequency distribution for hospital latency in mania, refuting previous suggestions of bimodality.
• Younger age and shorter psychiatric history are associated with rapid hospitalization following mania symptom onset.