Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:747-752
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Lithium prophylaxis of depression in unipolar, bipolar II, and cyclothymic patients
ED Peselow, DL Dunner, RR Fieve and A Lautin
The authors assessed lithium's prophylactic effect against depression in
unipolar (N = 43), bipolar II (N = 102), and cyclothymic (N = 69) patients
using a longitudinal life-table analysis and calculated the probability of
remaining free of a depressive episode. The probability of remaining free
of one depressive episode after 2 years of taking lithium ranged from 42%
to 55% for the bipolar II patients, 31% to 42% for the unipolar patients,
and 26% to 36% for the cyclothymic patients. The average probability of
suffering one depressive episode severe enough to require either
pharmacologic intervention or hospitalization in a 2-year period was 51%
for the bipolar II patients, 64% for the unipolar patients, and 69% for the
cyclothymic patients.
