Epidemiologic Characteristics and Clinical Features of the Elderly Patients with Bipolar Disorders Admitted to a University Hospital

OBJECTIVES: As the elderly population is continuing to increase, psychiatric diseases of the elderly are becoming an important social issue. This study looks into the demographical and clinical features of the elderly patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder in a University hospital. METHODS: The study subjects include patients admissioned in the closed wards of Soonchunhyang Seoul hospital and Cheonan hospital from March, 2000 to February, 2005 who met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for bipolar disorder at the time of discharge. A total of 146 patients (76 men, 70 women) medical records were studied retrospectively. Subjects older than the age of 50 at time of admission were grouped as the old age group, whereas those who were younger than 50 as the young age group. Also among the old age group, those who had the first onset of episode under the age of 50 were grouped as the early onset group, whereas those who had the first onset after the age 50 were grouped as the late onset group. RESULTS: The number of bipolar disorder patients in the young age group and old age group were 73 and 73 respectively. The number of early onset group and late onset group were 46 and 23 respectively. The old age group had a relatively higher incidence of bipolar II disorder than the young age group. Also in the old age group there was a higher incidence of hypomanic or depressive episode rather than manic episode compared to the young age group. And in the old age group psychotic symptoms were less common and the mean admission length shorter than the young age group. Additionally in the old age group treatment with Lithium monotherapy or with no mood stabilizers at all were relatively common. Among the old age group, late onset group had a higher rate of bipolar II disorder than the early onset group. CONCLUSION: This study shows differences in the demographical and clinical features among different age groups. But additional research would be required to determine whether the bipolar disorders in the elderly or late onset group are actually a different type of disorder from those of the young.

Relationship between SNP A and P1763 Polymorphisms on Dystrobrevin Binding Protein 1(DTNBP1) Gene and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movement(SPEM) Abnormality in Korean Schizophrenic Patients

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the association of SNP A and P1763 polymorphisms on dystrobrevin binding protein 1(DTNBP1) gene with smooth pursuit eye movement(SPEM) abnormality in Korean schizophrenic patients. METHODS: We measured SPEM function in 217 Korean schizophrenics(male 116, female 101) and divided them into two groups, one is a good SPEM function group and the other is a poor SPEM function group. We then analyzed SNP A polymorphism and P1763 polymorphism on DTNBP1 gene from their DNAs extracted from their blood. We compared the differences of genotype and allele distributions of the two polymorphisms on DTNBP1 gene between the two groups. RESULTS: The Ln S/N ratio(mean+/-SD) of the good SPEM function group was 4.39+/-0.33 and the ratio of poor SPEM function group was 3.17+/-0.71. There were no statistically significant differences of age and male/female ratio between the two groups. There were no significant differences of genotype or allele distributions of the SNP A polymorphism and P1763 polymorphism on DTNBP1 gene between the two schizophrenic groups divided by SPEM function. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that SNP A polymorphism and P1763 polymorphism on DTNBP1 gene might not be related to SPEM function abnormality in schizophrenia.