CK levels in unmedicated bipolar patients.

Various reports have described increased serum creatine kinase (CK) activity in the majority of hospitalized acutely disturbed schizophrenics and patients with affective psychoses. We investigated CK serum levels of 52 unmedicated bipolar inpatients, in manic versus depressive states. Additional 17 patients were evaluated in both states. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Young Mania Rating Scale were used and blood samples were obtained from new admitted patients. Higher CK level was found in the manic patients compared with the depressed ones. Likewise, the CK level was higher in the manic phase than in the depressive one, when tested within the same patient. Our results suggest that the clinical differences between mania and depression states are supported by contrasting levels of CK. The lack of correlations between CK level and motor items suggest that CK level in mania versus depression could emphasize the "thinking speed" and not the motor one.