This application is to complete data collection and to conduct statistical analyses for the ongoing study """"""""Family Psychopathology in Child Bipolarity"""""""".
The aim of this project is to perform direct interviews of the first degree relatives of three groups of probands (total N=263) who are participants in the ongoing parallel study """"""""Phenomenology and Course of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder"""""""". Proband groups are: (1) 89 probands with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype (PEA-BP). (2) 80 probands with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (hyperactive or combined types). (3) 94 probands who are normal community controls (CC). Merikangas et al (1989) criteria were used to design this family study, including that there were blind raters (no knowledge of the proband's group), rigorous assessment of the probands, longitudinal validation of the phenotype, no exclusions for psychopathology in the first degree relatives and control for specificity (ADHD control group). Ongoing data analysis supports the main study hypotheses. Specifically, there is significantly higher familial aggregation of bipolar disorders among the relatives of the PEA-BP compared to the ADHD and CC groups. Also, there is far greater familial aggregation of bipolar disorders among the relatives of the PEA-BP group compared to relatives of adult bipolar probands reported in the literature. Rates of mood disorders among the relatives of the CC group are similar to those reported in epidemiological samples, which provides reliability of the study methods. Validation of PEA-BP has been shown by reliable assessment, six-month stability, and one and two year diagnostic outcome. Support of the family study hypotheses will provide additional, important validation of the existence of prepubertal and early adolescent mania. Establishing high familial aggregation of bipolar disorders in relatives of PEA-BP probands will provide the basis for future genetic and genetic-environment interaction studies.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 12 publications