Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The treated prevalence and incidence of bipolar disorder among national health insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 1996–2003

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We used the NHI database to estimate the treated prevalence and incidence of bipolar disorder. The national health research institute (NHRI) provided a population based data file of 200,432 random subjects, about 1% of the population, for the study. We obtain a random sample of 136,045 subjects as a fixed cohort from 1996 to 2003. We identified study subjects who had at least one service claim during these years for either ambulatory or inpatient care with a principal diagnosis of bipolar disorder. The cumulative treated prevalence increased from 0.60 per 1,000 to 4.51 per 1,000 from 1996 to 2003. The annual treated incidence was around 0.48 per 1,000 per year to 0.71 per 1,000 per year during 1997–2003. Higher treated incidence was detected in the 45–64 (hazard ratio [HR], 1.63; 95% CI, 1.26–2.12) and 65 years or older age groups (HR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.14–2.15), female (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.04–1.46), non-aborigine (HR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.26–7.75), with a fixed premium (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.18–2.17), and those who lived in the eastern region (HR, 3.26; 95% CI, 2.31–4.59). According to the trends from 1996 to 2003, more persons with bipolar disorder had sought treatment in the NHI program in Taiwan. However, the treated prevalence of bipolar disorder in NHI was still lower than those of community studies in Western countries. In the future, we will continue to use NHI data to perform outcome evaluation and follow-up studies of bipolar disorder.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Baldessarini RJ, Leahy L, Arcona S, Gause D, Zhang W, Hennen J (2007) Patterns of psychotropic drug prescription for US patients with diagnoses of bipolar disorders. Psychiatr Serv 58:85–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bebbington P, Ramana R (1995) The epidemiology of bipolar affective disorder. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 30:279–292

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Boyd JH, Weissman MM (1981) Epidemiology of affective disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 38:1039–1045

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Chien IC, Chou YJ, Lin CH, Bih SH, Chou P, Chang HJ (2004) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among national health insurance enrollees in Taiwan. Psychiatr Serv 55:691–697

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Chien IC, Chou YJ, Lin CH, Bih SH, Chou P (2004) Prevalence and incidence of schizophrenia among national health insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 1996–2001. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 58:611–618

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Chinese Hospital Association (2000) ICD-9-CM English-Chinese dictionary. Chinese Hospital Association Press, Taipei

    Google Scholar 

  7. Commander MJ, O’Dell SM, Surtees PG, Sashidharan SP. (2003) Characteristics of patients and patterns of psychiatric service use in ethnic minorities. Int J Soc Psychiatry 49:216–224

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Compton WM III, Helzer JE, Hwu HG, Yeh EK, McEvoy L, Tipp JE (1991) New methods in cross-cultural psychiatry: psychiatric illness in Taiwan and the United States. Am J Psychiatry 148:1697–1704

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Daly I, Webb M, Michael K (1995) First admission incidence study of mania, 1975–1981. Br J Psychiatry 167:463–468

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gold JH (1998) Gender difference in psychiatric illness and treatments: a critical review. J Nerv Ment Dis 186:769–775

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Goldberg JF, Ernst CL (2002) Features associated with the delayed initiation of mood stabilizers at illness onset in bipolar disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 63:985–991

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Goldberg JF, Garno JL, Harrow M (2005) Long-term remission and recovery in bipolar disorder: a review. Curr Psychiatry Rep 7:456–461

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Greenberg PE, Stiglin LE, Finkelstein SN, Berndt ER (1993) The economic burden of depression in 1990. J Clin Psychiatry 54:405–418

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Griez EJL, Faravelli C, Nutt DJ, Zohar J (2004) Mood disorder. Wiley, West Sussex

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hendrick V, Altshuler LL, Gitlin MJ, Delrahim S, Hammen C (2000) Gender and bipolar illness. J Clin Psychiatry 61:393–396

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hwu HG, Yeh EK, Chang LY (1989) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Taiwan defined by the Chinese diagnostic interview schedule. Acta Psychiatr Scand 79:136–147

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Jones BE, Gray BA, Parson EB (1981) Manic-depressive illness among poor urban blacks. Am J Psychiatry 138:654–657

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Keck PE, Bennett JA, Stanton SP (1995) Health-economic aspects of the treatment of manic-depression illness with divalproex. Rev Contemp Pharmacother 6:597–604

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kessler RC, Mcgonagle KA, Zhao S, Nelson CB, Hughes M, Eshleman S, Witttchen HU, Kendler KS (1994) Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States. Arch Gen Psychiatry 51:8–19

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE (2005) Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62:593–602

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kessler RC, Merikangas KR, Wang PS (2007) Prevalence, comorbidity, and service utilization for mood disorders in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 3:137–158

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgensten H (1982) Epidemiologic research. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lin TY (1953) A study of incidence of mental disorders in Chinese and other cultures. Psychiatry 16:315–335

    Google Scholar 

  24. Lurie N, Popkin M, Dysken M, Moscovice I, Finch M (1992) Accuracy of diagnoses of schizophrenia in Medicaid claims. Hosp Community Psychiatry 43:69–71

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. National survey of NDMDA members finds long delay in diagnosis of manic-depressive illness (1993) Hosp Community Psychiatry 44:800–802

    Google Scholar 

  26. Reiger DA, Boyd JH, Burke JD, Rae DS, Myer JK, Kramer M, Robins LN, George LK, Karno M, Locke BZ (1988) One-month prevalence of mental disorders in the United States. Arch Gen Psychiatry 45:977–986

    Google Scholar 

  27. Regier DA, Farmer ME, Rae DS, Kramer M, Robins LN, George LK, Karno M, Locke BZ (1993) One-month prevalence of mental disorders in the United States and sociodemographic characteristics: the epidemiologic catchment area study. Acta Psychiatr Scand 88:35–47

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Schaffer A, Cairney J, Cheung A, Veldhuizen S, Levitt A (2006) Community survey of bipolar disorder in Canada: lifetime prevalence and illness characteristics. Can J Psychiatry 51:9–16

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Schaffer A, Cairney J, Cheung AH, Veldhuizen S, Levitt AJ (2006) Use of treatment services and pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder in a general population-based mental health survey. J Clin Psychiatry 67:386–393

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Unntzer J, Simon G, Pabiniak C, Bond K, Katon W (1998) The treated prevalence of bipolar disorder in a large staff-model HMO. Psychiatr Serv 49:1072–1078

    Google Scholar 

  31. Viguera AC, Baldessarini RJ, Tondo L (2001) Response to lithium maintenance treatment in bipolar disorders: comparison of women and men. Bipolar Disord 3:245–252

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Wang J, Patten SB, Williams JV, Currie S, Beck CA, Maxwell CJ, El-Guebaly N (2005) Help-seeking behaviours of individuals with mood disorders. Can J Psychiatry 50:652–659

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Wang PS, Berglund P, Olfson M, Pincus HA, Wells KB, Kessler RC (2005) Failure and delay in initial treatment contact after first onset of mental disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62(6):603–613

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Wang PS, Lane M, Olfson M, Pincus HA, Wells KB, Kessler RC (2005) Twelve-month use of mental health services in the United States: results from the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62:629–640

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang PS, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Angermeyer MC, Borges G, Bromet EJ, Bruffaerts R, de Girolamo G, de Graaf R, Gureje O, Haro JM, Karam EG, Kessler RC, Kovess V, Lane MC, Lee S, Levinson D, Ono Y, Petukhova M, Posada-Villa J, Seedat S, Wells JE (2007) Use of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health surveys. Lancet 370:841–850

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Weissman MM, Myers JK (1978) The use of research diagnostic criteria in an epidemiological survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35:1304–1311

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Weisman MM, Bruce ML, Leaf PJ, Florio LP, Holzer C (1991) Psychiatric disorders in America. In: Robins, Reiger D (eds) Psychiatric disorders in America: The epidemiologic catchment area study. Free Press, New York, pp 53–58

    Google Scholar 

  38. Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GJ, Faravelli C, Greenwald S, Hwu HG (1996) Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder. JAMA 276:293–299

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the National Health Research Institute and Bureau of National Health Insurance for supplying the data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bali Psychiatric Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shin-Huey Bih

  2. Dept. of Health, Jianan Mental Hospital, No. 80, Lane. 870, Jhongshan Road, Rende Township, Tainan County, Tainan, 71742, Taiwan

    I-Chia Chien (Dr.)

  3. Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science, Tainan, Taiwan

    I-Chia Chien (Dr.)

  4. Dept. of Social Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yiing-Jenq Chou

  5. Community Medicine Research Center, Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ching-Heng Lin & Pesus Chou

  6. Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Cheng-Hua Lee

  7. Dept. of Health, Bureau of National Health Insurance, Taipei, Taiwan

    Cheng-Hua Lee

Authors
  1. Shin-Huey Bih
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. I-Chia Chien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yiing-Jenq Chou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ching-Heng Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Cheng-Hua Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Pesus Chou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I-Chia Chien.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bih, SH., Chien, IC., Chou, YJ. et al. The treated prevalence and incidence of bipolar disorder among national health insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 1996–2003. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 860–865 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0378-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0378-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation