Abstract

Background: While prescription of lithium has been limited in recent years due to its adverse effects and necessity for frequent laboratory tests, second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are introduced as helpful medications for acute and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. To compare lithium with aripiprazole in a group of patients with diagnosis of acute mania was the objective of the present trial.

Methods: A total of 30 male inpatients with diagnosis of bipolar I disorder were entered into a four-week, double-blind study for random assignment to lithium carbonate (800 - 1200 mg/day) or aripiprazole (20 - 30 mg/day) (n =15 in each group). While Manic State Rating Scale (MSRS) was the main outcome measure in the present assessment, other scales such as Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMS), Schedule for Assessment of Insight (SAI) and Clinical Global Impressions-Global Improvement scale (CGI-G) have been used as secondary outcome measures.

Results: At the end of assessment and in comparison with baseline frequency and intensity of symptoms reduced significantly in both groups (p < 0.05), improvement was significantly more remarkable by lithium compared with aripiprazole (p < 0.01). Also, while CGI-G demonstrated significant improvement by both of them (p < 0.04 for aripiprazole and p < 0.002 for lithium), BRMS and SAI showed significant amelioration only in the lithium group (p < 0.001and p < 0.000, respectively).

Conclusion: Though both aripiprazole and lithium were helpful in the improvement of manic symptoms, treatment with lithium was more advantageous.

Keywords: Bipolar Disorder; Acute Mania; Lithium; Aripiprazole

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Citation

Citation: Saeed Shoja Shafti. “A Double-Blind Comparison Between Lithium and Third Generation Antipsychotic". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 4.3 (2020): 61-68.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Saeed Shoja Shafti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.