Conclusions Lithium continues as the st and ard and most extensively evaluated treatment for bipolar disorder , especially for long-term prophylaxis
Background Lithium has been used clinical ly for 70 years , mainly to treat bipolar disorder .
Competing treatments and exaggerated impressions about complexity and risks of lithium treatment have led to its declining use in some countries , encouraging this up date about its safe clinical use .
Long-term effectiveness of lithium in bipolar disorder: a multicenter investigation of patients with typical and atypical features.
OBJECTIVE Poor response to long-term lithium treatment has been reported to be associated with atypical features of bipolar disorder . The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of atypical symptoms on the effectiveness and stability of long-term lithium treatment  in a prospect i ve , multicenter cohort of bipolar patients in a naturalistic setting . METHOD Patients were initially selected according to International Classification of Diseases , 8th Revision , criteria for bipolar disorder and required long-term treatment .  Their diagnoses were reconfirmed according to DSM-IV upon its publication . They were prospect ively followed for an approximately 20-year period ending in 2004 in 5 centers participating in the International Group for the Study of Lithium-Treated Patients . Examinations included a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation , an assessment of typical and atypical features on an 8-item scale , and an evaluation of clinical course using the morbidity index . Unbalanced repeated- measures regression models with structured covariance matrices were used to assess the extent to which the morbidity index was influenced by atypical symptoms , duration of treatment , and pretreatment features . RESULTS A total of 242 patients were followed for a mean period of 10 years . In 142 patients , the number of typical features was greater than the number of atypical features , whereas in 100 patients the number of atypical features was greater than or equal to the number of typical features . The mean morbidity index remained stable over a period of 20 years in both groups of patients and was not significantly associated with the presence of atypical features , the duration of lithium treatment , the number or frequency of episodes , or latency from the onset of bipolar disorder to the start of lithium treatment . CONCLUSION Our study suggests that long-term response to lithium maintenance treatment is stable both in patients with typical and in patients with atypical features . The predominance of either typical or atypical features did not result in different responses to long-term lithium treatment in this sample of bipolar patients
Conclusions Lithium continues as the st and ard and most extensively evaluated treatment for bipolar disorder , especially for long-term prophylaxis
Background Lithium has been used clinical ly for 70 years , mainly to treat bipolar disorder .
Competing treatments and exaggerated impressions about complexity and risks of lithium treatment have led to its declining use in some countries , encouraging this up date about its safe clinical use .