›› 2011, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (11): 1536-.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2011.11.007

• Monographic report (Bipolar disorder) • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Clinical efficacy and safety of lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole in treatment of bipolar depression

SU You-song, CHEN Jun, LI Ze-zhi, WANG Yong, HUANG Jia, FANG Yi-ru, WANG Zu-bcheng   

  1. Department of Mood Disorder, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
  • Online:2011-11-28 Published:2011-11-29
  • Supported by:

    National Natural Science Foundation of China, 30971047；National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, “863” Program, 2006AA02Z430；National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China in “Tenth-Five Year Plan”, 2004BA720A21-02；Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine Foundation, 2008-6, 09XJ21024；Shanghai Mental Health Center Foundation, 2010-YJ-03

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Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole in treatment of bipolar depression. Methods Eighty-one patients with bipolar depression were randomly divided into lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole group (n=42) or lithium carbonate group (n=39), and were treated with lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole and lithium carbonate for 8 weeks respectively. At the baseline and the end of fthe irst, second, fourth and eighth week of treatment, Hamilton Depression Scale-17 (HAMD-17) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) were employed to evaluate the clinical efficacy, the effective rates were calculated, and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) was adopted to assess the side effects. Results There was no significant difference in HAMD-17 score between two group at the baseline (P>0.05), while HAMD-17 scores at the end of first, second and fourth week of treatment in lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole group were significantly lower than those in lithium carbonate group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Though HAMD-17 score at the end of the eighth week of treatment in lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole group was lower than that in lithium carbonate group, there was no significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). All the scores of YMRS at the baseline and the end of the first, second, fourth and eighth week of treatment were lower than 7. There was no significant difference in the effective rate and prevalence of side effects between two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Compared with lithium carbonate, lithium carbonate combined with aripiprazole may have earlier effects, similar clinical efficacy and no more side effects in treatment of bipolar depression.

Key words: aripiprazole, bipolar depression, efficacy, safety