Thursday, July 2, 2009

Olanzapine Effective for Bipolar Disorder in Naturalistic Setting: Presented at WCBP

Olanzapine, as monotherapy or combination therapy, significantly improves symptoms in patients with manic or mixed episodes of bipolar affective disorder, according to data reported here at the 9th World Congress of Biological Psychiatry (WCBP) on June 29.

Pavel Vohlidka, MD, Eli Lilly and Company, Basingstoke, United Kingdom, presented 12-week outcomes in 251 patients who received olanzapine as acute-phase treatment either alone or in tandem with other antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and/or lithium, and antidepressants.

All patients were being treated for manic or mixed episodes of bipolar affective disorder and were enrolled in the 24-month Mania and Olanzapine Treatment (MANOLA) study, which examined patterns of clinical use of olanzapine in a natural setting over a recent 4-year period.

In the current analysis, about one-third of patients received olanzapine as monotherapy and about two-thirds received the agent as part of combination therapy. The groups were similar in terms of baseline demographic and clinical characteristics.

The primary objective of the analysis was to evaluate changes in mania symptoms in both groups on the Clinical Global Impression-Bipolar Disorder (CGI-BP) scale: overall, mania, depression, hallucinations, delusions.

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