Project Summary

Keming Gao, M.D., Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Case Western Reserve University, will study the effectiveness of a drug to treat patients with bipolar disorder who also have other comorbid psychiatric conditions. Comorbid psychiatric disorders in patients with bipolar disorder are more prevalent than believed and lead to poorer outcomes. But comorbid conditions in this population are not adequately treated. The impact of this inadequacy on the prognosis of this population is unclear. Available agents for nonbipolar anxiety disorders, antidepressants, may trigger mania or destabilize the course of the bipolar illness, and benzodiazepines may be abused by patients with bipolar illness because many have substance-abuse histories. Antipsychotics with no risk of mania switching or abuse potential may be useful, but no randomized controlled trial has been done that only enrolls patients with bipolar disorder and any comorbid anxiety disorder with or without a dual diagnosis. In the proposed project, Dr. Gao will carry out the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, quetiapine add-on or monotherapy study in patients with bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety, and/or panic disorder with or without a substance-use disorder. Results should provide data for this underserved and multimorbid group.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar

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