Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:567-570
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Relationship between dosage and response to lithium prophylaxis in recurrent depression
RF Prien and EM Caffey Jr
The authors analyzed the results of a multihospital collaborative study on
the effectiveness of lithium prophylaxis in recurrent depression in terms
of dosage and found that serum lithium levels between 0.5 and 0.7 mEq/liter
and doses below 1000 mg/day were relatively ineffective in preventing
recurrences. Serum lithium levels between 0.8 and 1.0 mEq/liter and doses
above 1000 mg/day were associated with a relatively low failure rate. The
authors discuss the relevance of these findings to current prescription
guidelines for lithium carbonate.
