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>Bipolar Disorder More Common Among Urban Poor -Study >Tue Feb 22, 2005 > > > >CHICAGO - Bipolar disorder may often go undiagnosed >and untreated in the urban poor, with one in 10 found >to have the mental illness in a study of one New York >clinic published on Tuesday. > >The 13-month study at the clinic serving low-income >patients found that few reported being diagnosed or >treated for the illness. > >Bipolar disorder is normally treated with a mood >stabilizer such as lithium as well as anti-depressants >to counteract the swings from dark moods to mania and >associated irritability, racing thoughts, decreased >need for sleep, talkativeness, and excessive >involvement in risky activities. > >Prescribing anti-depressants alone to bipolar patients >can trigger manic behavior and rapid "cycling" between >mania and depression that could lead to suicidal >thoughts, said study author Amar Das of the New York >State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. > >One earlier study estimated bipolar disorder afflicted >5.7 percent of Americans earning less than $20,000 a >year, and the illness is more prevalent among the poor >than other income groups, the report published in this >week's Journal of the American Medical Association >said. > >Of the 112 bipolar patients identified in the study, >only nine said they had been diagnosed bipolar and >only seven said they had taken a mood-stabilizing drug >in the past month. > >Since the afflicted patients were more likely to seek >treatment when they were depressed, not when manic, >nearly half had been diagnosed depressive. That >diagnosis risked treatment solely with an >anti-depressant. > >"To improve the recognition and reduce the morbidity >of bipolar disorders in primary care, further efforts >are needed by primary care physicians to screen >selectively for past hypomania or mania among >participants with known depression, anxiety, or >substance use conditions," Das wrote.

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