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Clinical outcome in bipolar disorder in a community‐based follow‐up study in Butajira, Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Fekadu A.,
Kebede D.,
Alem A.,
Fekadu D.,
Mogga S.,
Negash A.,
Medhin G.,
Beyero T.,
Shibre T.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00825.x
Subject(s) - bipolar disorder , psychiatry , major depressive disorder , psychological intervention , cohort , rating scale , medicine , psychology , bipolar illness , bipolar i disorder , clinical psychology , mania , lithium (medication) , cognition , developmental psychology
Objective: To determine the clinical outcome of bipolar disorder in a developing country setup. Method: After assessing 68 378 individuals, aged 15–49 years, in a double‐sampling design in a rural community in Ethiopia, 312 patients with bipolar disorder were prospectively monitored with symptom rating scales and clinically for an average of 2.5 years. Results: Overall, 65.9% of the cohort experienced a relapse – 47.8% manic, 44.3% depressive and 7.7% mixed episodes – and 31.1% had persistent illness. Female gender predicted depressive relapse, while male gender predicted manic relapse. Being on psychotropic medication was associated with remission. Conclusion: This large community‐based study confirms the relapsing nature of bipolar disorder and a tendency for chronicity. This may be partly because of lack of appropriate interventions in this setting; however, it may also indicate the underlying severity of the disorder irrespective of setting.