Around a quarter of patients with fibromyalgia also suffer from bipolar disorder, results from a US study suggest.

Writing in the journal Bipolar Disorders, William Wilke, from the Cleveland Clinic Orthopedic and Rheumatologic Institute in Ohio, and team explain that the prevalence of lifetime depression in patients with fibromyalgia is known to be particularly high, at around 90%, compared with 17% in the general population.

They add that bipolar disorder is known to affect around 1.5% of the general population, but less is known about the prevalence of the condition in fibromyalgia patients.

To investigate, the team studied 128 fibromyalgia patients referred to the Cleveland Clinic between January and June 2005.

All patients were assessed using the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) for bipolar disorder, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) for daytime sleepiness, and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Disability Index (FIQ-DI).

The researchers found that 25.2% of fibromyalgia patients screened positive for bipolar disorder, with a score of 7 or higher on the MDQ.

Furthermore, 78.1% had clinical depression, as indicated by a BDI score of 10 or higher, and 52.1% reported daytime sleepiness, as indicated by a score of at least 10 on the ESS.

Among the patients with symptomatic depression, nearly one third (32.0%) screened positive for bipolar disorder.

Fibromyalgia patients who screened positive for bipolar disorder were significantly more depressed than those with a negative screen, with scores on the BDI of 26.0 versus 15.0.

Wilke and team conclude: “The most important finding of our study pertains to the high prevalence of a positive screen for bipolar disorder in patients with fibromyalgia. With the exception of more severe depression, no other clinical clues were present to help identify patients with fibromyalgia and bipolar disorder.”

They add: “We urge that bipolar disorder risk be carefully assessed in all patients with fibromyalgia prior to initiation of drug therapy, particularly since norepinephrine serotonin reuptake inhibitors may carry elevated risk for induction of mania.”

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2010

Free abstract

• FDA Issues Complete Response Letter For RISPERDAL(R) CONSTA(R) For Adjunctive Maintenance Treatment Of Bipolar Disorder
• AstraZeneca Traveling Exhibit Helps Americans Understand And Manage Bipolar Depression
• Communication Within The Brain Impaired By Genetic Variant With Possible Consequences Schizophrenia Or Manic Depression
• What Rorschach Tests Really Tell Us
• Mental Health America Applauds Bipartisan Legislation To Help Treat Depression And Bipolar Disorders

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.