THURSDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Teens with bipolar disorder
are at greater risk of smoking and substance abuse, says a
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) study that supports previous
research.
"This work confirms that bipolar disorder in adolescents is a
huge risk factor for smoking and substance abuse, as big a risk
factor as juvenile delinquency," study leader Dr. Timothy Wilens,
director of substance abuse services in MGH Pediatric
Psychopharmacology, said in a prepared statement.
"It indicates both that young people with BPD (bipolar disorder)
need to carefully be screened for smoking and for substance use and
abuse and that adolescents known to abuse drugs and alcohol --
especially those who binge use -- should also be assessed for BPD,"
said Wilens, who is also an associate professor of psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School.
He and his colleagues analyzed data on 105 teens with bipolar
disorder who were enrolled in the study at an average age of 14 and
followed into adulthood. The study also included a control group of
98 teens with no mood disorders.
Incidence of alcohol abuse or dependence, drug abuse or
dependence, and smoking was significantly higher in the bipolar
disorder group than in the control group. Overall, the rate of
substance abuse was 34 percent in the bipolar disorder group
compared to 4 percent in the control group.
The study also found that young people whose bipolar symptoms
began in adolescence were more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol
than those who started having bipolar symptoms in childhood.
"It could be that the onset of mood dysregulation in adolescence
puts kids at even higher risk for poor judgment and self-medication
of their symptoms," Wilens said. "It also could be that some
genetic switch activated in adolescence turns on both BPD and
substance abuse in these youngsters. That's something that we are
currently investigating in genetic and neuro-imaging studies of
this group."
Determining whether bipolar disorder begins before the start of
substance abuse could prove of major importance.
"If BPD usually precedes substance abuse, there may be
intervention points where we could reduce its influence on drug and
alcohol abuse. Aggressive treatment of BPD could cut the risk of
substance abuse, just as we have shown it does in ADHD," Wilens
said.
The study was published in the June issue of the journal
Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about
bipolar disorder.
