Efficacy of lithium prophylaxis in bipolar affective disorder.

Forty four patients attending the affective disorder clink at J1PMER Hospital who were on prophylactic lithium for bipolar affective disorder were studied, Intra-individual comparison for severity of illness was made between periods of similar duration with and without lithium prophylaxis. It was found that during lithium prophylaxis patients did significantly better on the following parameters: number of episodes of illness, duration of episodes, hospital admission, neuroleptic dosages and duration of antidepressant treatment. Of the 44 patients included in the study, 45% were good responders, 39% were partial responders and 16% were poor responders. Late age of onset was found to be a significant predictor of good response to lithium.