Socio-demographic and Clinical Characteristics of 113 Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder: An Inpatient Sample from Turkey

Objective: Pediatric bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly morbid disorder which is associated with impairments in social, academic, and family functioning. Despite its great impact on public health, the literature is scarce regarding the studies examining the clinical phenomenology of BD in children and adolescents. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 113 children and adolescents' files (ages 13-18 years) who were consecutively admitted to our inpatient clinic between March 2012 and November 2014 and diagnosed as having BD type I or BD type II was made. The diagnoses were based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. A sociodemographic and clinical data form was created by the authors and was filled out for each patient by the authors themselves. Results: Totally 113 adolescents (71 male, 42 female) were included in the study. Mean age of the sample was 16.054 +/- 1.23 (range=13-18) years. Mean age of onset of BD was 15.04 +/- 1.74 (range=9-17) years. The first mood episode was manic in 60% of patients, depressive in 27.3%, mixed in 10.9% and hypomanic in 1.8% of patients. Of the patients, 23.4% had a suicide attempt history, 48.2% had a previous referral to a psychiatry clinic before the onset of BD. History of substance/alcohol use was present in 27.4% of the patients. Of the patients, 84.9% were using combination treatments. Conclusion: High rates of suicide attempt, substance use and significant functional impairment found in our study sample indicate that early recognition and intervention of BD, specialized educational programs and occupational support for these children and adolescents seem indispensable.