Oxcarbazepine Treatment of Bipolar Disorder
S. Nassir Ghaemi, MD; Douglas A. Berv, MD; Jeffry Klugman, MD; Klara J. Rosenquist, BS; and Douglas J. Hsu, BS
J Clin Psychiatry 2003;64(8):943-945
© Copyright 2018 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.
To view this item, select one of the options below.
-
-
Purchase This PDF for $40.00
If you are not a paid subscriber, you may purchase the PDF.
(You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
-
Subscribe
Receive immediate full-text access to JCP. You can subscribe to JCP online-only ($86) or print + online ($156 individual).
With your subscription, receive a free PDF collection of the NCDEU Festschrift articles. Hurry! This offer ends December 31, 2011.
-
-
Activate
If you are a paid subscriber to JCP and do not yet have a username and password, activate your subscription now.
-
Sign in
As a paid subscriber who has activated your subscription, you have access to the HTML and PDF versions of this item.
-
Click here to login.
-
Did you forget your password?
Still can't log in? Contact the Circulation Department at 1-800-489-1001 x4 or send email
Objective: To assess the effectiveness
and safety of oxcarbazepine in bipolar disorder.
Method: A chart review of naturalistic
treatment with oxcarbazepine in 42 outpatients with DSM-IV
bipolar disorder (10 males, 32 females; mean ± SD age = 33.3 ±
12.4 years; 25 with bipolar disorder type I, 4 with bipolar
disorder type II, and 13 with bipolar disorder not otherwise
specified) was conducted. Patients had received oxcarbazepine
monotherapy or adjunctive therapy between April 2000 and April
2002. Treatment response was defined as a Clinical Global
Impressions-Improvement scale score of 1 (marked improvement) or
2 (moderate improvement).
Results: Oxcarbazepine was moderately to
markedly effective in 24 subjects (57%). Mixed symptoms were the
most common indication (52% [22/42]). The mean oxcarbazepine dose
was 1056.6 mg/day, and mean treatment duration was 16.2 weeks.
Sedation (17/42, 40%) was the most common side effect, but 16
patients (38%) had no side effects. Twenty-two patients (52%)
stopped treatment, mostly due to side effects (12/22). Males were
more likely to respond than females (10/10 vs. 14/32, p = .006).
Dose, bipolar subtype, indication, past nonresponse to mood
stabilizers, concurrent mood stabilizer use, and monotherapy use
of oxcarbazepine did not differentially predict response.
Conclusion: Oxcarbazepine appeared
effective in about one half of patients with bipolar disorder and
was well tolerated.