Monday, May 18, 2009

Bipolar patients often relapse: study

Results of a study suggest that bipolar disorder has a high relapse rate. In the study, researchers found evidence that three fourths of the hospitalizations for treatment of bipolar disorder are repeat admissions.

The study findings were reported today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, typically causes wide swings in mood -- sometimes from extreme incapacitating depression to euphoric recklessness.

"It is well known that bipolar disorder is a recurrent disease, so we considered it important to assess hospitalization patterns as an indication of the course of illness," principal investigator Dr. Urban sby from Danderyd University Hospital, Sweden, told Reuters Health prior to his presentation.

READ MORE @ REUTERS