Psychiatrists at University Hospitals have found that the old- school
drug lithium is as effective as a newer drug in treating childhood bipolar
disorder, an illness that is increasingly diagnosed but without the benefit
of proven drug therapies.

   The hospital study coincides with a government initiative this year
to begin clinical trials of lithium and 11 other drugs commonly prescribed
to children. Lithium has been used since the 1940s to treat bipolar, also
known as manic depression.

   But until the UH study, the drug had not been tested for long- term
use in children.

   Dr. Robert Findling, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at
UH, said the just-completed study showed that 30 children given lithium
for 18 months did as well as 30 children given Depakote, an anti-convulsant
widely prescribed for bipolar.

   Neither drug has Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment
of childhood bipolar, but doctors prescribe them "off- label."

   The kids in Findling's study were ages 5 to 17, and the 60 were randomly
chosen to receive one drug or the other after they responded to treatment
with both drugs.

   The news was not all good. Most kids relapsed by the end of the study,
a failure rate that isn't unusual and shows how far doctors are from a
gold-standard treatment. But the result is significant because it refutes
a common notion that lithium is an out-of-date drug, experts say.

   "We have a lot of doctors who recognize the illness in kids now but
they don't know how to treat it," said Martha Hellander, executive director
of the nonprofit Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation.

   "A lot of doctors are afraid to use [lithium] in children. This is an
important study," she said.

   Testing drugs in children is needed because they react differently from
adults to the drugs, and their symptoms are different. Children with bipolar
cycle between mania and depression quicker, and they can even have signs
of both at the same time. Unlike adults, they don't have periods of normalcy.

   Findling said he was surprised that lithium was effective. "It's an
old medicine, and it seems to have fallen off the radar screen for kids,"
he said.

   This was the largest-ever study of "maintenance" drugs for kids with
bipolar - that is, for kids after they have been stabilized. Another study,
financed by the National Institutes of Health, is examining whether lithium
or Depakote works better for children with acute symptoms.

   Lithium is far less expensive than Depakote, but requires costly monitoring
for side effects. Patients must have blood drawn for kidney and thyroid
tests.

   The rate of bipolar in children is unknown, but it affects 1 percent
to 2 percent of adults. "It's a hard condition to treat," said Hellander
of the children's advocacy group.

   "You get them well for a while, and they relapse."





 

This Article has been submitted by the Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com team for informational and educational purposes. Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com is a website dedicated to telling the story of Jeremy Jacobs, a character in the novel, Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com.