MedWire News: Patients with bipolar disorder gain no significant benefits from taking antidepressant drugs in addition to mood stabilising medications, say researchers.

"Long-term antidepressant treatment for depression in bipolar disorder patients is highly prevalent," explain Dr Nassir Ghaemi, from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and colleagues.

But they add that "its benefits and risks remain uncertain".

To investigate further, the researchers reviewed the results of seven published studies involving a total of 350 patients with bipolar disorder.

The participants received antidepressant therapy alone, antidepressant therapy plus a mood stabilizing drug, a mood stabilizer alone or no treatment for at least 6 months.

Analysis revealed that, compared with mood stabilizer treatment alone, the addition of long-term antidepressant therapy did not significantly reduce the risk of depression or increase the risk of mania.

Dr Ghaemi and team conclude: "Long-term adjunctive antidepressant treatment was not superior to mood stabilisers alone in bipolar disorder."

While conceding that further research is needed to confirm their findings, they add: "We recommend caution in the long-term clinical use of antidepressants aimed at limiting recurrences of bipolar depression, and encourage increased reliance on mood stabilizers as the cornerstone of maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder patients, especially in type-I bipolar disorder, with its risk of potentially dangerous manic or mixed states."

The research is published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.