Comparative Efficacy and Acceptability of Antimanic Drugs in Acute Mania

Summary

Background: Bipolar disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses affecting 1%-4% of the population, and one of the leading causes of worldwide disability. Mania is a condition of excessively elevated mood, characterizes bipolar disorder, and usually is a main cause of hospitalization. Mood stabilisers and antipsychotic drugs have long been the maintenance treatment of acute mania with and without psychotic symptoms. Though clinical trails have been demonstrated that these drugs are individually more effective than placebo in the relatively long term (e.g 4, 8 weeks). However, in the pragmatic practice, patient at acute mania urgently want to see the effectiveness, and psychiatrist under great pressure and are in great need to evaluate the very short-term effectiveness (e.g one week). If the first attempted antimanic drug fails, psychiatrist need the evidence that which medication should be to added on or switch to. Objectives: one main aim is to rank the short-term ( e.g.one and two week) effectiveness and acceptability of the common anti-mania drugs, including Lithium, Valproate, Oxcarbazepine, Quetiapine, Olanzapine, or Ziprasidone. Secondary aim is to investigate which medication to add on for non-responders or switch to. Methods: The study setting: it is expected that 120 subjects with a diagnose of DSM-IV bipolar I disorder will be recruited from Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, the earliest psychiatric hospital in the history of China established by Dr.J. G. Kerr in 1898. Design:This study is a randomized, controlled trial. Participants with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnosis of bipolar I disorder, manic or mixed episode will be randomly assigned to a treatment of Lithium, Valproate, Oxcarbazepine, Quetiapine, Olanzapine, or Ziprasidone. In the following conditions, participants will take another antimanic drug as a combination medication: 1) those who have a reduction in YMRS scores less than 25% after one week of treatment; 2) those who have a reduction in YMRS scores less than 50% after two weeks of treatment; or 3) those who have a increase in YMRS more than 30% at day 4. An antipsychotic (Quetiapine, Olanzapine, and Ziprasidone) will be added on for those who use lithium, Valproate or Oxcarbazepine as a first attempted medication; while Lithium, Valproate, or Oxcarbazepine will be added on for those who use an antipsychotic as a first attempted medication. Those participants who are recognized as non-response/partial response to two combined medications after 6 weeks of treatment will switch to Modified Electroconvulsive Therapy (MECT). Measures: Primary outcome measures are change scores on the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and dropout rates. Secondary outcome measures include Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) Scale, Global Assessment Scale (GAS), Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Response criteria: \<25% reduction in YMRS scores or \>=4 scores of CGI is defined as non-response. 25-49% reduction in YMRS scores from baseline as well as \<=3 scores of Clinical General Impression (CGI) is recognized as partial response.\>= 50% reduction in YMRS as well as 1 (very much improved) or 2 scores (much improved) of CGI is recognized as response. Remission is defined as a YMRS score \<=12 and CGI score equal to 1 or 2.

Timeline

Start

2013-09

Primary completion

2015-12

Completion

2015-12

Publications

• Background Murray CJ, Lopez AD. Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet. 1997 May 17;349(9063):1436-42. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)07495-8.
• Background Tarr GP, Glue P, Herbison P. Comparative efficacy and acceptability of mood stabilizer and second generation antipsychotic monotherapy for acute mania--a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2011 Nov;134(1-3):14-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2010.11.009. Epub 2010 Dec 9.
• Background Correll CU, Sheridan EM, DelBello MP. Antipsychotic and mood stabilizer efficacy and tolerability in pediatric and adult patients with bipolar I mania: a comparative analysis of acute, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Bipolar Disord. 2010 Mar;12(2):116-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2010.00798.x.
• Background Cipriani A, Barbui C, Salanti G, Rendell J, Brown R, Stockton S, Purgato M, Spineli LM, Goodwin GM, Geddes JR. Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antimanic drugs in acute mania: a multiple-treatments meta-analysis. Lancet. 2011 Oct 8;378(9799):1306-15. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60873-8. Epub 2011 Aug 16.
• Background American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. text revision. Washington (DC): American Psychiatric Association; 2000.
• Background Zhang L, Ning Y. Guangzhou psychiatric hospital: the oldest psychiatric hospital in china. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2010 Jun;7(6):53-4.

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