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Adolescent bipolar disorder increases risk of smoking and substance abuse

Scientists say that adolescent bipolar disorder is a significant risk factor for cigarette smoking and substance use disorders, regardless of psychiatric comorbidity.

Previous research has indicated that bipolar disorder during adolescence increases the risk for substance use disorders and cigarette smoking, but only a limited number of studies have examined the link, explain the researchers.

Timothy Wilens, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, and colleagues studied 105 adolescents with bipolar disorder, who had an average age of 13.6 years, and 98 individuals without the disorder, who had an average age of 13.7 years.

Analysis revealed that bipolar disorder patients had a significantly increased age-adjusted risk for any substance use disorder in comparison with controls, at 34% versus 4% and a hazard ratio of 8.68, the team reports in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Bipolar disorder patients also had, in comparison with controls, a significantly increased risk for cigarette smoking and drug abuse.

Dr Wilens commented: "It could be that the onset of mood dysregulation in adolescence puts kids at even higher risk for poor judgement and self-medication of their symptoms. It could also be that some genetic switch activated in adolescence turn on both bipolar disorder and substance abuse in these youngsters."

Source: MedWire News 5th June 2008
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