Psychiatric Risks in Offspring of Parents with Bipolar/Unipolar Disorders
At the 2019 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, researcher Martin Preisig and colleagues from Lausanne, Switzerland reported on a longitudinal study of mood disorders in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, or no history of psychiatric illness. The study included 446 children (with an average age of 10.1 years at the beginning of the study), who participated for an average of 11.9 years.
Preisig and colleagues determined symptoms and other factors that preceded psychiatric illness. They found that bipolar disorder in the offspring was preceded by sub-threshold hypomania, major depression, and conduct disorder. Bipolar disorder in the offspring was also predicted by parental early-onset bipolar disorder.
Major depression was preceded by separation anxiety disorder, and witnessing violence or being a victim of sexual abuse.
Preisig and colleagues concluded that not only did bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder have different familial origins, they also had different antecedents and risk factors.
