TY - JOUR
T1 - Anticonvulsant Use in Older Age Bipolar Disorder in a Global Sample from the Global Aging and Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder Project
T2 - Utilisation d’anticonvulsivants pour le traitement des troubles bipolaires du sujet âgé auprès d’un échantillon mondial provenant du projet GAGE-BD
AU - Bodenstein, Katie C.
AU - Lesage, Myriam
AU - Lavin, Paola
AU - Schouws, Sigfried
AU - Orhan, Melis
AU - Beunders, Alexandra
AU - Almeida, Osvaldo P.
AU - Altinbas, Kursat
AU - Balanzá-Martínez, Vicent
AU - Barbosa, Izabela G.
AU - Blumberg, Hilary P.
AU - Briggs, Farren B. S.
AU - Calkin, Cynthia V.
AU - Forlenza, Orestes V.
AU - Forester, Brent
AU - Gildengers, Ariel G.
AU - Haarman, Benno C. M.
AU - Hajek, Tomas
AU - Lafer, Beny
AU - Nune, Paula
AU - Mulsant, Benoit
AU - Olagunju, Andrew T.
AU - Patrick, Regan E.
AU - Radua, Joquim
AU - Sarna, Kaylee
AU - Simhandl, Christian
AU - Soares, Jair C.
AU - Sutherland, Ashley N.
AU - Fiorelli, Nicole
AU - Teixeira, Antonio L.
AU - Tsai, Shangying
AU - Vieta, Eduard
AU - Yala, Joy
AU - Eyler, Lisa
AU - Dols, Annemiek
AU - Sajatovic, Martha
AU - Rej, Soham
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Background: Anticonvulsants are an essential treatment for bipolar disorder; however, there is relatively little known about their use in older age bipolar disorder (OABD). In this paper, which leverages a large international dataset, we aim to 1) describe the use of anticonvulsants in OABD compared to younger age bipolar disorder (YABD; ages <50 years old) and 2) explore any demographic/clinical correlates. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on the international data from the Global Aging and Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder project. The main objective was to report the prevalence of anticonvulsant use in OABD over 50 years old (mean age = 62.27) and the most prescribed anticonvulsant. Additional analysis explored any demographic and clinical correlates associated with anticonvulsant use. Generalized linear mixed models were used for this analysis. Results: Of the 2,691 participants with bipolar disorder who had anticonvulsant prescribing data, 34.4% (n = 926) used anticonvulsants at the time of study. Rates of anticonvulsant prescribing did not significantly differ between OABD and YABD groups (36.7% (n = 666) vs. 29.7% (n = 260)). Anticonvulsant prescribing patterns for OABD and YABD did not significantly differ, with valproate as the most prescribed anticonvulsant. OABD anticonvulsant users had less lithium use, more antidepressant use, more rapid cycling, more mood episodes and more cardiovascular comorbidities compared to nonusers. Conclusion: Anticonvulsant use was similar in OABD and YABD. A number of important clinical correlates of anticonvulsant use were identified.
AB - Background: Anticonvulsants are an essential treatment for bipolar disorder; however, there is relatively little known about their use in older age bipolar disorder (OABD). In this paper, which leverages a large international dataset, we aim to 1) describe the use of anticonvulsants in OABD compared to younger age bipolar disorder (YABD; ages <50 years old) and 2) explore any demographic/clinical correlates. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on the international data from the Global Aging and Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder project. The main objective was to report the prevalence of anticonvulsant use in OABD over 50 years old (mean age = 62.27) and the most prescribed anticonvulsant. Additional analysis explored any demographic and clinical correlates associated with anticonvulsant use. Generalized linear mixed models were used for this analysis. Results: Of the 2,691 participants with bipolar disorder who had anticonvulsant prescribing data, 34.4% (n = 926) used anticonvulsants at the time of study. Rates of anticonvulsant prescribing did not significantly differ between OABD and YABD groups (36.7% (n = 666) vs. 29.7% (n = 260)). Anticonvulsant prescribing patterns for OABD and YABD did not significantly differ, with valproate as the most prescribed anticonvulsant. OABD anticonvulsant users had less lithium use, more antidepressant use, more rapid cycling, more mood episodes and more cardiovascular comorbidities compared to nonusers. Conclusion: Anticonvulsant use was similar in OABD and YABD. A number of important clinical correlates of anticonvulsant use were identified.
KW - anticonvulsants
KW - geriatric
KW - older age bipolar disorder
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105016535631
U2 - 10.1177/07067437251372190
DO - 10.1177/07067437251372190
M3 - Article
C2 - 40984046
SN - 0706-7437
JO - Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
JF - Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
M1 - 07067437251372190
ER -