The Role of Childhood Adversities in Clinical Presentation of Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Comparative study

BACK GROUND: Bipolar disorder affects up to one in 25 individuals and identification of early risk indicators of clinical presentation could facilitate early detection of patients with greatest clinical needs and risk. Research exploring the role of childhood adversity in the bipolar disorder are few. AIM OF THE STUDY: We aimed to compare the proportion of childhood adversities in adults with bipolar disorder to a healthy control group and to investigate the role of childhood adversities in the clinical presentation of bipolar disorder. METHODS: Retrospective assessment of childhood adversity was conducted using the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) in 100 bipolar patients (currently under remission) and 100 healthy controls. RESULTS: Significantly higher proportions of childhood adversities was observed in bipolar disorder than the healthy controls. Logistic regression shows significant association between between childhood adversities and bipolar disorder, mainly emotional abuse. BPAD patients with history of childhood adversity had early age of onset of illness, more number of mood episodes, more risk of suicidal attempts, poor level of functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood adversities appears to significantly associated with bipolar disorder. childhood adversity predicts unfavourable clinical presentation and course of illness in BPAD patients