Impact of anxiety disorder comorbidity on quality of life in euthymic bipolar disorder patients: differences between bipolar I and II subtypes

BACKGROUND: Few studies investigated the impact of anxiety disorder comorbidity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of bipolar patients and none examined bipolar subtypes differences. The aim of the study was 1) to determine comorbidity rates for anxiety disorders in euthymic bipolar subjects, comparing bipolar type I and II disorders (BDI and BDII), and 2) to compare within each group HRQoL measures in subjects with and without anxiety comorbidity. METHODS: Comorbidity was evaluated through the SCID-I; HRQoL was assessed using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). All subjects were euthymic since at least 2 months, as confirmed by a HAM-D <8 and a YMRS