Early- versus late-onset bipolar II disorder.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the clinical features and the outcome between patients with early- and late-onset bipolar II disorder.

DESIGN

Case series.

SETTING

Outpatient private practice.

PATIENTS: One hundred and seventy-nine consecutive outpatients with bipolar II disorder presenting for treatment of a major depressive episode.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Duration of illness, severity of depression, recurrences, psychosis, chronicity, atypical features and comorbidity.

RESULTS

Patients with early-onset (before 20, 25 or 30 years of age) bipolar II disorder had a significantly longer duration of illness and more recurrences compared with patients with late-onset (after 20, 25 or 30 years of age) bipolar II disorder. All other variables were not significantly different between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Indicators of worse outcome (severity of depression, psychosis, chronicity, comorbidity) were not significantly different between patients with early- and late-onset bipolar II disorder.