ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: A prospective study of psychiatrically well Amish children to determine differences in the frequency and pattern of clinical features that may be prodromal for bipolar I disorder. METHOD: Children with a bipolar I parent (n = 100) and children of well parents in a matched control sample (n = 110) were assessed annually for 7 years with semistructured interviews covering medical/developmental features and symptoms/behaviors that are possibly prodromal for bipolarity. Randomized histories of these 210 children were evaluated blindly by 4 clinicians for independent ratings of risk for bipolarity. RESULTS: Thirty-eight percent of the children of bipolar parents were rated as at risk compared with 17% of children in the control sample. Most control sample children with risk ratings had well parents with a bipolar sibling (i.e., family history positive). Children with family histories negative for mental illness rarely received even a low risk rating. Clinical features significantly (p Subject(s)
Bipolar Disorder/diagnosis
, Ethnicity/psychology
, Adolescent
, Bipolar Disorder/epidemiology
, Chronic Disease
, Female
, Follow-Up Studies
, Humans
, Interview, Psychological
, Male
, Prospective Studies
, Risk Factors
, Surveys and Questionnaires