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Comparison of clinical characteristics of bipolar and depressive disorders in Korean clinical sample of youth: a retrospective chart review

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics of bipolar disorder I, II (BD I and II) and not otherwise specified (BD NOS) to those of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a clinical sample of Korean children and adolescents. This study was a cross-sectional review of longitudinal observational data. Two psychiatrists retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 198 children and adolescents (age 6–18) that were diagnosed as having bipolar or depressive disorders from March 2010 to February 2012 at Department of Psychiatry of Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Every subject’s diagnoses were reviewed and confirmed. BD I, II and MDD were assessed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV criteria. BD NOS was defined based on the criteria for the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth study. Comparisons were made in demographic information, clinical characteristics, family history, and psychiatric comorbidities at baseline and during observation. Among 198 subjects, 20 (10.1 %) subjects were diagnosed as having BD I, 10 (5.1 %) as BD II, 25 (12.6 %) as BD NOS and 143 (73.7 %) as MDD. BD depression was associated with mood change while taking an antidepressant, familial bipolarity, aggressive behaviors, and atypical features. Comorbid obsessive–compulsive disorder tended to be higher in BD NOS than in MDD. Presence of psychosocial stressors was more common in MDD than in BD depression. In children and adolescents, bipolar depression is distinct from unipolar depression in family history, comorbidity, and clinical characteristics.

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Acknowledgments

There was no financial support for this study.

Conflict of Interest

Dr. Eric Youngstrom has received travel support from Bristol-Myers Squibb and consulted with Lundbeck; he receives grant funding from the NIH. Other authors have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-Ro 43-Gil, Songpa-Gu, Seoul, 138-736, Korea

    Seung-Hyun Shon, Yeonho Joo, Jangho Park & Hyo-Won Kim

  2. Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Eric A. Youngstrom

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  1. Seung-Hyun Shon
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  2. Yeonho Joo
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  3. Jangho Park
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  4. Eric A. Youngstrom
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Correspondence to Hyo-Won Kim.

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Shon, SH., Joo, Y., Park, J. et al. Comparison of clinical characteristics of bipolar and depressive disorders in Korean clinical sample of youth: a retrospective chart review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 23, 307–316 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-013-0461-3

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