Clinical correlates of lithium response in patients with bipolar disorder on long-term lithium therapy

Background: Lithium continues to be one of first-line prophylactic agents for bipolar disorder (BD) but only about one-third of patients are excellent responders. Studies have described various clinical correlates of treatment response but Indian literature is limited. Aim: to assess the relationship of clinical variables to lithium response in subjects with BD on long-term prophylaxis Methodology: This was a cross-sectional, observational study of 40 subjects, aged 18-60 years, with DSM-5 BD type I, currently in remission. Subjects were included if they were on regular and long-term lithium for atleast one year or more. All subjects were screened using MINI 7.0 to exclude co morbidities and standard scales (YMRS≤4, HAM-D