Association of Lithium Treatment With Reduced Left Ventricular Concentricity in Patients With Bipolar Disorder.

Existing data indicate that lithium treatment may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases in patients with bipolar disorder (BD).[[1], [3]] Our recent pilot study demonstrated that longer lithium exposure was associated with favorable diastolic function among patients with BD.[4] The findings suggest that lithium treatment may help prevent heart failure in individuals with BD. Regarding the distributions of LV geometric patterns, significantly lower proportions of patients who received lithium therapy displayed LV concentricity than those who did not receive lithium treatment. Compared with patients who did not receive concurrent treatment of lithium, patients administered lithium therapy exhibited a significantly higher mean ratio of drug exposure in relation to bipolar illness chronicity (Table 1), indicating a more consistent exposure to lithium during the disease course of BD. [Extracted from the article]