Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2024
Abstract
Objective: Sex-specific research in adult bipolar disorder (BD) is sparse and even more so among those with older age bipolar disorder (OABD). Knowledge about sex differences across the bipolar lifespan is urgently needed to target and improve treatment. To address this gap, the current study examined sex differences in the domains of clinical presentation, general functioning, and mood symptoms among individuals with OABD. Methods: This Global Aging & Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder (GAGE-BD) study used data from 19 international studies including BD patients aged ≥50 years (N = 1,185: 645 women, 540 men).A comparison of mood symptoms between women and men was conducted initially using two-tailed t tests and then accounting for systematic differences between the contributing cohorts by performing generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). Associations between sex and other clinical characteristics were examined using GLMM including: age, BD subtype, rapid cycling, psychiatric hospitalization, lifetime psychiatric comorbidity, and physical health comorbidity, with study cohort as a random intercept. Results: Regarding depressive mood symptoms, women had higher scores on anxiety and hypochondriasis items. Female sex was associated with more psychiatric hospitalizations and male sex with lifetime substance abuse disorders. Conclusion: Our findings show important clinical sex differences and provide support that older age women experience a more severe course of BD, with higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization. The reasons for this may be biological, psychological, or social. These differences as well as underlying mechanisms should be a focus for healthcare professionals and need to be studied further.
Keywords
bipolar disorder, gender, geriatrics, men, older age bipolar disorder (OABD), sex, sex differences, women
Language
English
Publication Title
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Grant
CB07/09/0004
Rights
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/), which permits non-commercial copying and redistribution of the material in any medium or format, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Blanken MAJT, Oudega ML, Almeida OP, Schouws SNTM, Orhan M, Beunders AJM, Klumpers UMH, Sonnenberg C, Blumberg HP, Eyler LT, Forester BP, Forlenza OV, Gildengers A, Mulsant BH, Rajji T, Rej S, Sarna K, Sutherland A, Yala J, Vieta E, Tsai S, Briggs FBS, Sajatovic M, Dols A. Sex Differences Among Older Adults With Bipolar Disorder: Results From the Global Aging & Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder (GAGE-BD) Project. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;32(3):326-338. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.10.008. Epub 2023 Oct 23. PMID: 37981507.