- Explain to patients who ask that drug therapy for depression associated with bipolar disorder may include mood stabilizers and/or antimanic agents.
- This study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.
SAN DIEGO, May 24 -- Antidepressants are widely used to treat the depression in bipolar disorder, despite their lack of approval for the indication and limited evidence of efficacy and safety, investigators reported here.
A review of nationwide prescribing patterns of psychotropic drugs for patients with diagnosed bipolar disorder revealed that more than half received antidepressants as initial monotherapy, with anticonvulsant drugs coming in a distant second, reported Ross J. Baldessarini, M.D., of Harvard, and colleagues.
"Utilization rates for antidepressants were very high despite a lack of compelling evidence of their efficacy or safety in bipolar depression, and polytherapy came to dominate treatment by one year," the investigators wrote in a poster presentation at the meeting of the American Psychiatric Association here.
The FDA has approved several antimanic and mood stabilizing agents for the treatment of depression associated with bipolar disorder. Antidepressants, although not approved for this indication, are increasingly being used off-label as monotherapy and in combination, the authors noted.
