New research from the Universities of Keele and Manchester has found that psychiatric diagnoses, psychotropic prescriptions, and health service use patterns are strong indicators of bipolar disorder.

The findings – published in the British Journal of General Practice – will allow doctors to carry out quicker referral, assessment, and treatment of the devastating condition which used to be known as manic depression.

The early warning signs, identifiable for over 10 years before diagnosis, include previous depressive episodes, sleep disturbance, substance misuse, receipt of three or more different types of psychotropic medications in a year, escalating self-harm, frequent consultations and missing scheduled appointments.

The findings could help improve delays between the early manifestations of bipolar disease and its diagnosis and treatment, currently estimated to be around six years.

Major reforms required

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre-funded research team analyzed routinely collected electronic primary healthcare data from between January 2010 and July 2017

They identified 2,366 people with a bipolar disorder diagnosis and 47,138 people without bipolar disorder in England.

The work supports the remit of the recent Bipolar Commission Report 'Bipolar Minds Matter' which is calling for major reform of healthcare practice to develop a dedicated care pathway for specialist treatments and lifetime support for people with bipolar disorder.

Up to 3% of the UK population experience bipolar disorder at some point during their lives.

Many people who are undiagnosed experience adverse health outcomes including poor social adjustment, multiple hospital admissions, poor physical health, interpersonal violence, and increased risk of self-harm and suicide.

(Newswise/NK)