Open-label olanzapine treatment in bipolar I disorder: clinical and work functional outcomes

ABSTRACT Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe clinical and work functional outcomes associated with 6‐month open‐label olanzapine treatment for bipolar I disorder. Methods: The study consisted of 249 patients entering a 6‐month open label phase after 12 weeks of acute double-blind haloperidol or olanzapine treatment. Baseline for analysis was defined as the beginning of open-label treatment. The clinical outcomes were symptomatic remission defined by a Y‐MRS total score ≤ 12 and a HAM‐D total score ≤ 8 at the end of 6 months of treatment. The work functional outcomes included work functional scores, the proportion of patients who reported to ‘work’ as employee, volunteers, students, or house workers and the proportion of patients who specifically reported to ‘work for pay’. Results: A total of 240 patients reported work functional outcomes post open-label baseline. Among them, 15.4% patients moved into a ‘work group’ from a ‘no-work group’ at baseline, while 7.1% did the opposite ( p = 0.0065) and 13.3% reported an improvement to ‘work for pay’ status from a ‘not working for pay’ status at baseline, while there was 4.2% of worsening in employment status ( p = 0.0007). Overall, improvement in the work functional score was found at all post-baseline time points, beginning at month two ( p = 0.003). Limitations: Results of this study need to be confirmed by double-blind randomized controlled studies. There was a lack of detailed information on work functioning from the questionnaire. Conclusions: Open‐label olanzapine treatment for 6 months was associated with improvements in work functional outcomes in patients with bipolar disorder.