Bipolar disorder – Comorbidities

Although attempts have been made to define comorbidity, including the seminal work of the 1970s, it is a term that is used with different meaning across the scientific literature.^1,3 Moreover, beyond comorbidity, multimorbidity is used to discuss the presence of several m…

Reference:
1. Bland M. An Introduction to Medical Statistics, 4th edition. Oxford University Press. 2015.

Disentangling the relationships between two disorders, in an individual patient and across populations, is complicated.^1,2 Consider a person who has diabetes; patients with diabetes have an increased risk of certain eye disorders, because elevated glucose can lead to eye …

This large cross-sectional analysis studied the medical records of more than 27 million people admitted to hospital (1.15% of whom had bipolar disorder) between 2010–2014, using data from the US nationwide inpatient sample (NIS) database.¹ The rates of various conditions …

There are many different conditions, both psychiatric and medical, that appear to be associated with bipolar disorder, inasmuch as these conditions are more prevalent in populations of people with bipolar disorder than they are in the general population.^1,2 However, becau…

This analysis found that the lifetime prevalence of any anxiety disorder comorbidity in people with bipolar disorder was 40.5%; comorbidity with panic disorder was 18.1%, social anxiety disorder 13.5%, generalized anxiety disorder 13.3%, and obsessive–compulsive disorder …

Attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is commonly comorbid with bipolar disorder, however, because the two disorders share some common symptoms, differential diagnosis is important.^1-3 People with bipolar disorder can experience periods of increased activity, po…

Despite the high levels of comorbidity, there is not much evidence to guide treatment of patients with bipolar disorder who also experience alcohol-use disorder.⁵ It is important to consider treatment compliance when managing patients with bipolar disorder and comorbid al…

Bipolar disorder is associated with alcohol- and substance-use disorders, which are associated with a worse clinical course.^1-4 However, the exact nature of the interaction is not clear, because there appears to be at least a partly bidirectional relationship.⁴ Ultimately…

There is a relatively broad range of symptomatologic overlap between bipolar disorder and eating disorders, including emotional reactivity, impulsivity, cyclicity, depressive symptoms, and weight changes.^2,3 Whilst sharing some symptoms, bipolar disorder and various eatin…

There has been much debate about the diagnostic categories of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder; they are treated as separate diagnoses, even though there are many overlapping symptoms.^1-3 Perhaps partly as a result of this categorical confusion, there …

The meta-analysis shown on the slide found 56 publications of studies comparing the rates of current smoking behaviour, heavy smoking among current smokers, smoking cessation in people who have ever smoked, or ever smoking in people with bipolar disorder versus control gr…