Who are patients suffering from bipolar disorders in France? The TEMPPO survey: patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics data

One of the aims of the TEMPPO study was to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of a cohort of adult outpatients with type I or type II bipolar disorders (as defined by DSM-IV criteria) in France. TEMPPO is a multicenter, cross-sectional, non-interventional study conducted in France between November 2008 and May 2009, with a random sample of academic and private practice psychiatrists. Each psychiatrist who agreed to participate in the study had to: complete a register with data on all consecutive patients (up to 20 patients) consulting during a 2-month period and fulfilling inclusion criteria; include in the study the first five patients of the register with an on-going consultation for at least 6 months; for each of which a detailed questionnaire had been assessed, notably their sociodemographic and bipolar clinical characteristics. Adult outpatients diagnosed with bipolar disorders (BD) were enrolled if fulfilling the following inclusion criteria: man or woman, aged 18 and above, diagnosed bipolar type I or II according to DSM-IV criteria, treated (whatever the treatment strategy) or not, and followed-up for at least 6 months by the participating psychiatrist. One hundred and thirty-five psychiatrists included 619 patients with bipolar disorder (197 and 422 followed-up in public and private practice respectively). The estimated prevalence of patients with bipolar disorders consulting psychiatrists was 0.43%. Type I bipolar disorder was the most frequent condition (58% of the patients). As a whole, bipolar disorder was associated with severe handicap (mean global disease Clinical Global Impression [CGI]-Severity score of 4.4 and mean GAF [Global Assessment of Functioning] score of 59), with more depressive episodes than manic episodes (6 vs. 4) or hypomania (6 vs. 3), a high proportion of rapid cycles (11%), psychiatric comorbidities (45% of patients), obesity (16% of patients), libido dysfunction and associated psychotic symptoms. Current manic phase was associated with more pronounced illness severity and lowest functioning. More than half of the patients (57%) had a family history of psychiatric disorders. This study could shed some light for a better understanding of demographics and clinical patterns of patients with bipolar disorders consulting psychiatrists in France. The results emphasize the severity of bipolar disorders with mainly depressive episodes, a high proportion of rapid-cycling, comorbidities and associated psycho