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Objective: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between age at onset and social support in outpatients with bipolar disorder who were in the recovery phase. We also investigated the association between age at onset and disability. Methods: A total of 180 bipolar disorder I outpatients, of whom 50 had early onset with age at onset ≤18 years old, 108 had middle onset with age at onset between 19 and 39 years old, and 22 had late onset with age at onset ≥40 years old, were assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale and Sheehan Disability Scale. Results: The early onset group had lower tangible social support, longer length of illness, more childless participants, lower income and more suicide attempters than the late onset group. Conclusions: Early onset seems to have inferior outcomes in tangible social support than late onset, but this trend should be considered as a starting point for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To measure the levels of functionality and QoL of caregivers of patients with BD, investigating the association between them, as well as the relationship with clinical and sociodemographic data of these caregivers., Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 2020 and 2022 with caregivers of patients with BD treated in an outpatient clinic of a university hospital. The following instruments were applied: Clinical and sociodemographic questionnaire, WHODAS 2.0, SF-36, MINI-PLUS, and SCID II., Results: The median score on WHODAS 2.0 was less than 20. In SF-36, the medians found in its domains were above 60. Those who demonstrated greater functional impairment had lower QoL. Being younger, being a parent, having non-psychiatric clinical conditions, and having mental disorders were associated with worse QoL and lower functionality., Conclusion: The results obtained indicate less functional impairment and a better perception of QoL when compared to literature data, demonstrating that there is a subgroup of caregivers who perform their caregiving role without significant compromise in these health aspects. Exploring other factors associated with functionality and QoL, such as resilience, the presence of psychological support, or others, may allow for better targeting of public health interventions, optimizing comprehensive bidirectional care for patients and caregivers., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Objective: Caregivers appear to experience mental health implications related to their role in supporting patients with bipolar disorder (BD). This study aimed to review literature assessing the presence of not only psychiatric symptoms but also mental disorders and personality disorders in caregivers of patients with BD., Methodology: This is a narrative review. Articles were searched in some computerized databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsychINFO, Liliacs, and Scielo up to June 2024. Inclusion criteria comprised articles in any language, focusing on primary caregivers of BD patients, and quantitative studies evaluating the presence of mental disorder, personality disorder, or psychiatric symptoms in this caregiver group., Results: The review encompassed 15 articles. Only two studies utilized appropriate diagnostic instruments for assessing mental disorder, and no article evaluated personality disorder. Prevalence of caregiver's psychiatric symptoms and mental disorder was found to be higher compared to the general population., Conclusions: The lack of studies employing diagnostic assessment tools for mental disorder in these individuals may impede timely access to treatment, affecting both the caregiver's health and the course of patients with BD. This study provides an updated overview of research on caregivers of patients with BD, despite the limitation of not being a systematic review. Further studies employing diagnostic assessments on caregivers are essential to gain deeper insights into this critical topic., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest declared concerning the publication of this article.

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic pathology that is associated with several impairments throughout a patient's life, including decreased sexual function. Despite the importance in quality of life (QoL), functionality and medication adherence, it is still little investigated in these patients., Objective: To compare the sexual function of patients with Bipolar Disorder type I (BD-I), in remission, with healthy controls (HC) and to investigate the clinical and socio-demographic characteristics associated with sexual function in these individuals. Also, to assess the QoL in patients with and without sexual dysfunction (SD)., Methods: Cross-sectional study with 132 patients with BD-I in euthymic phase and 61 HCs from an outpatient clinic. All the participants were evaluated through the Arizona Sexual Scale (ASEX) and the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQoL-BREF). The patients with BD-I were compared with the HCs. The patients were divided into two groups: the ones diagnosed with SD and the ones without it., Results: The patients with BD-I had higher rates of SD (42.4%) compared to the HCs (16.4%) (OR 3.67, 95% CI 1.55 - 8.67; p=0.003). SD in patients was associated with being women (p=0.001), older age (p=0.003) and having a longer duration of untreated illness (p=0.010). Patients with SD had worse QoL scores compared to those without SD., Conclusion: Patients with BD-I have a high prevalence of SD and this was associated with worse QoL scores in all domains., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest declared concerning the publication of this article.

Objective: To describe and analyze data on self-injurious behavior (SIB) and related mortality in children under 10 years old in Brazil., Methods: A descriptive study was performed using secondary public health care data extracted from the Hospital Information System (Sistema de Informações Hospitalares, SIH) and Mortality Information System (Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade, SIM) in Brazil. The databases are available for online access at http://datasus.saude.gov.br/., Results: In Brazil, according to SIH data, 11,312 hospitalizations of patients under 10 years of age were recorded from 1998 to 2018 as resulting from SIB (ICD-10 X60-X84 codes). Of these, 65 resulted in death. According to the SIM, from 1996 to 2016, 91 deaths related to SIB were recorded, 81 (89%) in children aged 5 to 9 years, nine (9.9%) in children aged 1 to 4 years, and one (1.1%) in a child below 1 year of age., Conclusion: These results highlight the relevance of creating measures to better understand SIB and related mortality in this age group. They also reveal the vulnerability of children in Brazil and warrant further studies to address these issues.