Of 1,730 consecutive admissions to an acute inpatient psychiatric unit
in China, 155 (8.9%) satisfied two sets of research diagnostic criteria for
mania, a figure significantly greater than those previously reported in
China. The authors studied 108 of these patients and found that their
clinical characteristics were similar to those of Western patients; their
response to treatment was excellent and their course benign. Their
first-degree relatives had a high morbidity risk for affective disorder
and a low morbidity risk for schizophrenia. The authors discuss the
implications of their findings in China, where the use of lithium is
uncommon because of the impression that mania is rare in China.Abstract Teaser