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Published online March 2, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 3 March 2009, pp. e446-e452 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-0841)
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ARTICLE

Quality of Life in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

Andrew J. Freeman, BSa, Eric A. Youngstrom, PhDa, Erin Michalak, PhDb, Rebecca Siegel, MAc, Oren I. Meyers, PhDd, Robert L. Findling, MDe

a Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
b Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
c Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, Florida
d Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
e Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

OBJECTIVE. Bipolar disorder is a common mood disorder associated with significant disability and impairment in quality of life in adults. Little research has examined the impact of the disorder on quality of life in children and adolescents. The current study examines the quality of life in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder compared with other physical and psychiatric illnesses.

METHODS. This study included 529 youth and caregiver pairs who sought services at a community mental health center or an academic medical center. Diagnoses were based on semistructured interviews of caregivers and youths, and quality of life was determined by the parent-reported Revised Children Quality of Life Questioinnaire (KINDL) questionnaire and compared with published benchmarks for many medical illnesses.

RESULTS. Mean age of the youths was 12.0 years, 57% were boys, 72% were black, 22% were white, and 17% had received bipolar disorder diagnoses. Youths with bipolar disorder had significantly lower quality-of-life scores than youths with asthma, atopic dermatitis, obesity, arthritis, oxygen dependence, heart surgery during infancy, depression, behavior disorders, and nonmood and nonbehavior psychiatric diagnoses.

CONCLUSIONS. Youths with bipolar disorder reported lower quality of life than other youths encountered in pediatric practice. Pediatricians should attend not only to the child's mood symptoms but also to the overall impairment of the disorder.

Key Words: bipolar disorder • quality of life • medical illness • children and adolescents

Abbreviations: PBD—pediatric bipolar disorder • QoL—quality of life • KSADS—Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-aged Children • DSM-IV-TR—Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision • KINDL-R—Revised Children Quality-of-Life Questionnaire • NOS— not otherwise specified

Accepted Nov 11, 2008.


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