Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T08:13:31.037Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Retrospective Case-Note Study of Bipolar Disorder in Old Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

John Snowdon
John Snowdon*
Affiliation:
Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a replication of an earlier published study, case notes of 75 elderly in-patients with bipolar affective disorder were examined. Few of the patients had experienced a manic episode before the age of 40. Mean age of onset of affective disorder was 46 years, and first manic episode at 60 years. Cerebral insults before the first manic attacks were recorded in a substantial number of cases, and a family history of mental illness was less common among this group. Bipolar affective disorder is relatively common as a reason for admission of elderly patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 4 , April 1991 , pp. 485 - 490
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Angst, J. (1980) Clinical typology of bipolar illness. In Mania: An Evolving Concept (eds R. H. Belmaker & H. M. van Praag). Lancaster: MTP Press.Google Scholar
Black, D. W., Winokur, A. Nasrallah, A., et al (1988) Complicated mania. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 232–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clayton, P. J. (1981) The epidemiology of bipolar affective disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 22, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, J. A. & Hill, A. M. (1988) The incidence of hysterectomy and its effect on the probability of developing uterine cancers. Community Health Studies, 12, 176–181.Google Scholar
Goodwin, F. K. & Jamison, K. R. (1984) The natural course of manic-depressive illness. In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds R. M. Post & J. C. Ballenger). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Grof, P., Angst, J., Karasek, M., et al (1979) Selection of an individual patient for long-term lithium treatment in clinical practice. In Lithium: Controversies and Unresolved Issues (eds T. B. Cooper, S. Gershon, N. S. Kline, et al). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.Google Scholar
Joyce, P. R. (1984) Age of onset in bipolar affective disorder and misdiagnosis as schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 14, 145–149.Google Scholar
Krauthammer, C. & Klerman, G. L. (1978) Secondary mania. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 1333–1339.Google Scholar
Kumar, A. & Agarwal, M. (1988) Secondary affective disorder in survivor of cardiac arrest. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 836–839.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1936) Prognosis in the manic-depressive psychosis. Lancet, ii, 997–999.Google Scholar
Loranger, A. W., & Levine, P. M. (1978) Age at onset of bipolar affective illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 1345–1348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perms, C. (1966) A study of bipolar (manic-depressive) and unipolar recurrent psychoses (I-X). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 194 (suppl.), 1–189.Google Scholar
Shulman, K., & Post, F. (1980) Bipolar affective disorder in old age. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 26–32.Google Scholar
Snowdon, J. (1981) A review of compulsory admissions to a psychiatric unit in Sydney. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 15, 307–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spar, J. E., Ford, C. V. & Liston, E. H. (1979) Bipolar affective disorder in aged patients. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 40, 504–507.Google ScholarPubMed
Spicer, C. C., Hare, E. H. & Slater, E. (1973) Neurotic and psychotic forms of depressive illness: evidence from age-incidence in a national sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 535–541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Starkstein, S. E. & Robinson, R. G. (1989) Affective disorders and cerebral vascular disease. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 170–182.Google Scholar
Stone, K. (1989) Mania in the elderly. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 220–224.Google Scholar
Tsuang, M. T. (1978) Suicide in schizophrenics, manics, depressives, and surgical controls. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 153–155.Google Scholar
Weeke, A. & Vaeth, M. (1986) Excess mortality of bipolar and unipolar manic-depressive patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 11, 227–234.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Leaf, P. J., Tichler, G. L., et al (1988) Affective disorders in five United States communities. Psychological Medicine, 18, 141–153.Google Scholar
Young, R. C. & Falk, J. R. (1989) Age, manic psychopathology and treatment response. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 4, 73–78.Google Scholar
Zis, A. P., Grof, P. & Goodwin, F. K. (1979) The natural course of affective disorders: implications for lithium prophylaxis. In Lithium: Controversies and Unresolved Issues (eds T. B. Cooper, S. Gershon, N. S. Kline, et al). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.