Early-Onset Bipolar Spectrum Disorders: Diagnostic Issues

Since the mid 1990s, early-onset bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSDs) have received increased attention in both the popular press and scholarly press. Rates of diagnosis of BPSD in children and adolescents have increased in inpatient, outpatient, and primary care settings. BPSDs remain difficult to diagnose, particularly in youth. The current diagnostic system makes few modifications to accommodate children and adolescents. Researchers in this area have developed specific BPSD definitions that affect the generalizability of their findings to all youth with BPSD. Despite knowledge gains from the research, BPSDs are still difficult to diagnose because clinicians must: (1) consider the impact of the child’s developmental level on symptom presentation (e.g., normative behavior prevalence, environmental limitations on youth behavior, pubertal status, irritability, symptom duration); (2) weigh associated impairment and course of illness (e.g., neurocognitive functioning, failing to meet full DSM criteria, future impairment); and (3) make decisions about appropriate assessment (differentiating BPSD from medical illnesses, medications, drug use, or other psychiatric diagnoses that might better account for symptoms; comorbid disorders; informant characteristics and assessment measures to use). Research findings concerning these challenges and relevant recommendations are offered. Areas for further research to guide clinicians’ assessment of children with early-onset BPSD are highlighted

Improving Clinical Prediction of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in Youth.

This report evaluates whether classification tree algorithms (CTA) may improve the identification of individuals at risk for bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD). Analyses used the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) cohort (629 youth, 148 with BPSD and 481 without BPSD). Parent ratings of mania symptoms, stressful life events, parenting stress, and parental history of mania were included as risk factors. Comparable overall accuracy was observed for CTA (75.4%) relative to logistic regression (77.6%). However, CTA showed increased sensitivity (0.28 vs. 0.18) at the expense of slightly decreased specificity and positive predictive power. The advantage of CTA algorithms for clinical decision making is demonstrated by the combinations of predictors most useful for altering the probability of BPSD. The 24% sample probability of BPSD was substantially decreased in youth with low screening and baseline parent ratings of mania, negative parental history of mania, and low levels of stressful life events (2%). High screening plus high baseline parent-rated mania nearly doubled the BPSD probability (46%). Future work will benefit from examining additional, powerful predictors, such as alternative data sources (e.g., clinician ratings, neurocognitive test data); these may increase the clinical utility of CTA models further

Factors Influencing Mental Health Service Utilization by Children with Serious Emotional and Behavioral Disturbance: Results from the LAMS Study

The official published article is available online at http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.62.6.650.OBJECTIVE: To describe service utilization of a cohort of children with emotional and behavioral disorders who visited outpatient mental health clinics in four Midwest cities. METHOD: Data come from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) Study. 707 youth (ages 6–12 years) and their parents completed diagnostic assessments, demographic information and an assessment of mental health service utilization. Analyses examined the relationship of demographics, diagnoses, impairment, and comorbidity to the type and level of services utilized. RESULTS: Service utilization is multimodal with half of the youth receiving both outpatient and school services during their lifetime. Non-need factors including age, sex, race, and insurance, were related to types of services used. Youth diagnosed with a bipolar spectrum disorder had higher utilization of inpatient services and two or more services at one time compared to youth diagnosed with depressive or disruptive disorders. More than half of youth diagnosed with bipolar or depressive disorders had received both medication and therapy during their lifetime whereas for youth diagnosed with a disruptive disorder therapy only was more common. Impairment and comorbidity were not related to service utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Use of mental health services for children begins at a very young age and occurs in multiple service sectors. Type of service use is related to insurance and race/ethnicity, underscoring the need for research on treatment disparities. Contrary to findings from results based on administrative data, medication alone was infrequent. However, the reasonably low use of combination therapy suggests that clinicians and families need to be educated on the effectiveness of multimodal treatment

AACAP 2006 Research Forum--Advancing research in early-onset bipolar disorder: barriers and suggestions

OBJECTIVE: The 2006 Research Forum addressed the goal of formulating a research agenda for early-onset bipolar disorder (EOBP) and improving outcome by understanding the risk and protective factors that contribute to its severity and chronicity. METHOD: Five work groups outlined barriers and research gaps in EOBP genetics, neuroimaging, prodromes, psychosocial factors, and pharmacotherapy. RESULTS: There was agreement that the lack of consensus on the definition and diagnosis of EOBP is the primary barrier to advancing research in BP in children and adolescents. Related issues included: the difficulties in managing co-morbidity both statistically and clinically; acquiring adequate sample sizes to study the genetics, biology, and treatment; understanding the EOBP\u27s developmental aspects; and identifying environmental mediators and moderators of risk and protection. Similarly, both psychosocial and medication treatment strategies for children with BP are hamstrung by diagnostic issues. To advance the research in EOBP, both training and funding mechanisms need to be developed with these issues in mind. CONCLUSIONS: EOBP constitutes a significant public health concern. Barriers are significant but identifiable and thus are not insurmountable. To advance the understanding of EOBP, the field must be committed to resolving diagnostic and assessment issues. Once achieved, with adequate personnel and funding resources, research into the field of EOBP will doubtless be advanced at a rapid pace

Comparing the CASI-4R and the PGBI-10 M for Differentiating Bipolar Spectrum Disorders from Other Outpatient Diagnoses in Youth

We compared 2 rating scales with different manic symptom items on diagnostic accuracy for detecting pediatric bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSDs) in outpatient mental health clinics. Participants were 681 parents/guardians of eligible children (465 male, mean age = 9.34) who completed the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10-item Mania (PGBI-10M) and mania subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-Revised (CASI-4R). Diagnoses were based on KSADS interviews with parent and youth. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs) determined discriminative validity and provided clinical utility, respectively. Logistic regressions tested for incremental validity in the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10M in predicting youth BPSD status above and beyond demographic and common diagnostic comorbidities. Both CASI-4R and PGBI-10M scales significantly distinguished BPSD (N=160) from other disorders (CASI-4R: Area under curve (AUC) = .80, p .05). Diagnostic likelihood ratios indicated low scores on either scale (CASI: 0–5; PGBI-10M: 0–6) cut BPSD odds to 1/5 of those with high scores (CASI DLR− = 0.17; PGBI-10M DLR− = 0.18). High scores on either scale (CASI: 14+; PGBI-10M: 20+) increased BPSD odds about fourfold (CASI DLR+ = 4.53; PGBI-10M DLR+ = 3.97). Logistic regressions indicated the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10M each provided incremental validity in predicting youth BPSD status. The CASI-4R is at least as valid as the PGBI-10M to help identify BPSDs, and can be considered as part of an assessment battery to screen for pediatric BPSDs

Stability of Satellite Planes in M31 II: Effects of the Dark Subhalo Population

The planar arrangement of nearly half the satellite galaxies of M31 has been a source of mystery and speculation since it was discovered. With a growing number of other host galaxies showing these satellite galaxy planes, their stability and longevity have become central to the debate on whether the presence of satellite planes are a natural consequence of prevailing cosmological models, or represent a challenge. Given the dependence of their stability on host halo shape, we look into how a galaxy plane's dark matter environment influences its longevity. An increased number of dark matter subhalos results in increased interactions that hasten the deterioration of an already-formed plane of satellite galaxies in spherical dark halos. The role of total dark matter mass fraction held in subhalos in dispersing a plane of galaxies present non trivial effects on plane longevity as well. But any misalignments of plane inclines to major axes of flattened dark matter halos lead to their lifetimes being reduced to < 3 Gyrs. Distributing > 40% of total dark mass in subhalos in the overall dark matter distribution results in a plane of satellite galaxies that is prone to change through the 5 Gyr integration time period.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRAS September 22 201

Pediatric bipolar disorder and ADHD: Family history comparison in the LAMS clinical sample

Transgenerational association of bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been reported, but inconclusively

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and bipolar disorder not otherwise specified:fraternal or identical twins?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences between disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) and bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (BP-NOS) in baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and 36 month course of irritability in children 6–12.9 years of age. Methods: A total of 140 children with DMDD and 77 children with BP-NOS from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms cohort were assessed at baseline, then reassessed every 6 months for 36 months. Results: Groups were similar on most sociodemographic and baseline clinical variables other than most unfiltered (i.e., interviewer-rated regardless of occurrence during a mood episode) Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and parent-reported General Behavior Inventory-10 Item Mania (PGBI-10M) items. Children with DMDD received lower scores on every item (including irritability) except impaired insight; differences were significant except for sexual interest and disruptiveaggressive behavior. Children with DMDD received lower scores on eight of 10 PGBI-10M items, the other two items rated irritability. Youth with DMDD were significantly less likely to have a biological parent with a bipolar diagnosis than were youth with BP-NOS. Children with DMDD were more likely to be male and older than children with BP-NOS, both small effect sizes, but had nearly double the rate of disruptive behavior disorders (large effect). Caregiver ratings of irritability based on the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-4R (CASI-4R) were comparable at baseline; theDMDD group had a small but significantly steeper decline in scores over 36 months relative to the BP-NOS group (b=-0.24, SE = 0.12, 95% CI -0.48 to -0.0004). Trajectories for both groups were fairly stable, in the midrange of possible scores. Conclusions: In a sample selected for elevated symptoms of mania, twice as many children were diagnosed withDMDD than with BP-NOS. Children with DMDD and BP-NOS are similar on most characteristics other than manic symptoms, per se, and parental history of bipolar disorder. Chronic irritability is common in both groups. Comprehensive evaluations are needed to diagnose appropriately. Clinicians should not assume that chronic irritability leads exclusively to a DMDD diagnosis

Pediatric bipolar spectrum disorder and ADHD: comparison and comorbidity in the LAMS clinical sample: ADHD and BPSD in LAMS children

To compare attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD), and comorbidity in the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study

Use of Outpatient Mental Health Services Among Children of Different Ages: Are Younger Children More Seriously Ill?

The study compared use of specialty outpatient mental services among children ages six and seven and children ages eight through 12 and investigated predictors of differences in the patterns of service use by age